The Previous Cycle
by Scuttlest
Summary: What led Sephiroth to take his life in the last cycle? What did Terra do as a pawn of Chaos in the last cycle? What is the story of the previous cycle? What set the stage for Dissida: Final Fantasy? Rated T. A series. SERIES COMPLETE.
1. Prologue

**Author Notes:**

**This is the result of some debating with myself in regards to Dissidia's plot. I noticed that any character who had taken part in an earlier conflict in their original game, seemed to have taken part in an earlier cycle in Dissidia's story. As I thought about it, I realized that one could more or less fill out an entire Dissida prequel with characters that took part in past conflicts. Laguna against Adel, for example.**

**That gave birth to this fan-fic, this is about a previous cycle that took place. Though I wasn't able to add in quite as many characters as I would have wanted, I needed to be reasonable about it all, so I came up with six Warriors of Cosmos, and seven Warriors of Chaos. So we have thirteen characters here, not counting Cosmos and Chaos. There aren't really that many characters here that didn't appear in Dissidia either, because anyone who implied that they took part in an earlier cycle got a magical ticket into this story. Emperor mentioned he saw Sephiroth take his life gets him in. Kefka having directly seen Terra in a previous cycle gets him in, etc. Ultimately, only three Warriors of Cosmos are new, and only one Warrior of Chaos is new. This also ultimately meant that, with the imbalance, and with the need to have all characters who took part in a past cycle in the story**

**I admit that some characters might be a bit OOC, but some of them came from games I haven't really played. I've only played I-V, VIII, XII, and XIII so far. Though it's hard to make Adel OOC, considering she gets only three very uninteresting lines in VIII, and as long as you remember that she's cruel-minded, she's effectively in-character.**

**This will also be my first time writing a story series, and not a one-shot. So it's a test of my ability to write a long story.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Dissidia or Final Fantasy or any thing, it all belongs to Square-Enix.**

* * *

"_Here ends the war of the gods. Destiny's hand cannot be stayed…"_

_The ten warriors disappeared in pulses of light, the demonic god of discord, Chaos, felt his flesh burn and immolate, the death he had craved had come, though not precisely in the way he had predicted or wanted. The cycle had come to an end, and Chaos along with it. Every hope and ambition of the Warriors of Chaos had come to nothing._

_Yet that is the future. What happened before this cycle? What led to this cycle? What was the last cycle? Many warriors on the side of Chaos harbored memories of the last conflict, but what are those memories? What do they remember of the last cycle? That story shall be unfolded._

* * *

A white throne. It was none other then the throne of Cosmos, goddess of harmony. Cosmos led her Warriors of Cosmos against the forces of Chaos in the hopes of saving the worlds. Or at least, that's what her warriors believed.

* * *

The throne was surrounded by shallow water, just deep enough to cover the toes, enough to irk the man who paced through it. Sans shirt and bursting with muscles, the man was Jecht.

Across from him, standing calmly and evenly on the white marble Cosmos' throne sat on, was a man dressed primarily in black, the color of his outfit was directly contrasted by his long silver hair that went along his back. In the man's left hand was a sword, a sword whose length could only be described as ridiculous, the man was Sephiroth.

There was a third and final man with them, sitting casually next to Sephiroth, it looked as if he could doze off at any second, with his chosen weapon of a machine gun resting in his lap. The man's attire was rather casual, much like the personality of the man, whose name was Laguna.

"This is getting boring." Jecht let out an exaggerated yawn, he was willing to be patient, but only for so much time. Cosmos had told them to wait by her throne until she came, and wait they were doing. Though Jecht was the only losing his patience, Sephiroth was the greatest member of SOLDIER, he was used to such spans of downtime between missions. In fact, he was used to longer periods of downtime then this, _much_ longer periods of time.

Laguna wasn't quite as patient, even if he was a former soldier, but then, even during his career, he wasn't known as the most dedicated sort.

"Cosmos asked us to wait here, Jecht." Sephiroth was always the orderly sort, even if he came off as distant and cold at times, he didn't precisely fit in with the other Cosmos warriors, even if he was their acting leader. Yet it seemed normal for the thrown-together teams like this, for the leader to be a tad stuck-up.

"Hey, I'm no fan of waiting either Jecht, but Sephiroth is right." Laguna allowed himself to topple over to the left, looking like was trying to curl up for sleep.

"That's not very becoming for a soldier, Laguna." Sephiroth continued to stand erect, taking casual note of the lack of discipline in the former soldier. Very care-free, almost, like Zack.

"How do you think the others are doing?" Jecht crossed his arms from the boredom, perhaps talking about the other three Warriors of Cosmos might give him something to whittle the time away with.

"Don't worry about them, they can handle themselves." Sephiroth gave a calm answer. "Even if, with the exception of the Dragoon, they're as undisciplined as you two."

"Aw, give it a rest, Sephiroth. Not everyone is against having fun, you know." Laguna rolled his eyes as he closed them, clearly trying to take a nap.

"Yet everyone is against the Chaos Warriors taking over all the worlds, Laguna."

* * *

"It seemed to be an ordinary temple, albeit, one in ruins, known to them only as the "Old Chaos Shrine". They were inside it, even if it looked as if the ill-maintained pillars would allow the ceiling to come crashing down on them at any given second. These three were also Warriors of Cosmos.

One was covered in armor, perhaps it could have been defined as knightly armor, though one made in the image of a dragon, this was Richard, the Dragoon. With a spear, the Blood Spear, in hand.

Pacing up and down the main carpet of the shrine, there was a significantly older man, with a single sword holstered to side. His hair had long gone grey, yet he still seemed quite fit for his age, and quite ready for battle, his age did not concern him. Perhaps his only concern, was the fact that his memories of his world seemed to escape him. Amnesiac or not, he could at least remember his name, Galuf.

The last among them was also the shortest, as well as the only outright spell caster among the Warriors of Cosmos. However, despite her size, she was a complete adult. Shantotto was her name, and with a style of talking that drove everyone insane.

"This is where the Chaos Warriors were holed up until recently, right?" Richard, spear in hand, took note of the throne at the end of the carpet. Almost everything in the Shrine was covered with dust, except for the throne and the area around it, a sign of recent use. Considering the Chaos Warriors, it would only make sense if they thought they had the right to use the throne as their chair. "I'd say that they completely cleaned themselves out, though, beyond the obvious signs of use of the Shrine, there's no indication of where they could have gone."

"They may be gone, but has it been long?" Shantotto's quips had a way of making both men sigh in frustration. Her personality wasn't obnoxious in of itself, but it was her insistence on rhyming her words that drove them to rip their hair out.

"I swear, there is no way I could find someone more annoying then you." Galuf sighed as Shantotto turned around to give him a look. "Even though I barely remember my own world, I know there wasn't anyone half as bad as you."

"Oh shut up you. People like me are far too few."

"There needs to be even less people like you." Richard sighed after he made his response to Shantotto. "We're trying to save all the worlds from being conquered by Chaos, remember?"

* * *

"We have confirmed the Cosmos Warriors."

The five Warriors standing at the ready at the throne of Chaos, a jut of rock sticking up out of a sea of lava, turned their attention to the decorated figure that stood before them all. The figure was none other then the Palamecian Emperor, otherwise known as "Mateus".

"We have their names, Sephiroth, Laguna, Galuf, Richard, Shantotto, and Jecht."

Emperor Mateus held a scepter in his right hand, in his free out-stretched left hand there was a small white orb that was rapidly expanding, as it continued to expand, clear pictures could be seen, pictures of the six Cosmos Warriors.

One of the Chaos Warriors, Sorceress Adel, with sharp thorn-like wings sprouting from her back, was the first to take notice of the pictures, in particular, one that showed someone from her own world.

"That's the peon who suspended me in space…" Adel's voice was highly raspy and cold, a reflection of her styling of ruling, a ruling that was ended due to the long-haired ex-Galbadian soldier she saw on the images.

Her anger was briefly interrupted by a laugh that came from behind her, a deep booming laughter that was easily identifiable, as she expected, Exdeath walked up beside her, gazing at the image of Laguna falling asleep at Order's Sanctuary.

"So this undisciplined worm is what sealed you?" Exdeath let loose with another laugh, only rekindling Adel's anger. "Perhaps not even the power of the Void could give your strength any redeemable characteristics."

Adel's lips let loose with a barely audible hiss that didn't phase Exdeath at all, though there was no telling if he managed to hear it through his laughter.

"You'll see soon enough what happens to those that earn a Sorceress' wrath!" Adel reached her arm out, with the finger pointed towards Exdeath, a small amount of white colored energy began forming on it, weather she was planning to shoot it at Exdeath wasn't unclear, and it would remain unclear as a gloved hand reached in and diverted Adel's hand.

Moving her gaze to the side, she saw the owner of the arm, Judge Gabranth. Gabranth only looked at her through his helm, giving her a silent warning against in-fighting. Adel allowed her hand to go limp, a cue for Gabranth to release his grip on her arm.

Adel's arm went back to her side, she was now composed, or at least, acted composed, if she had it her way, the other Warriors of Chaos would be stains on the ground.

Another one of the Warriors of Chaos, Kefka, felt the urge to interject here. "Come on, let'em fight! There's too many of us, anyway!"

"Listen you worthless nihilist…" Adel pointed a finger at Kefka, albeit, without magic being drawn to the finger, "Try to heckle me, and I swear, it'll be the last thing you ever-"

"Enough."

Adel's words were stopped mid-sentence by the sound of a familiar voice. Collectively, all the present Chaos Warriors turned to the Emperor. No, the voice did not come from the Emperor, but from behind him. Walking up the steps to Chaos' throne was a knight, with a distinctive horned helm and carrying a exceptionally huge sword, in one hand at that.

The presence of this knight, the presence of Garland, seemed to silence everyone. Garland was the official "mediator" of the Chaos Warriors, though rather then with words, he mediated through knock-out. Garland was formerly the knight of the king of a nation known as Cornelia, as an ex-royal knight, one might of thought that all Garland knew was brute force, but no, he seemed to know exactly how to take each Chaos Warrior down in an instant. The only exception was perhaps Emperor Mateus, but only because he and Garland had yet to fight.

"We are banded to fight against the Warriors of Cosmos, not each other." Garland walked forward, bringing himself to a halt in-between Kefka and Adel. "Is that understood, you two?"

Adel scowled, but would not turn away, she gazed at the face of Garland's helm, finally muttering a forced apology for taking violent offense at Exdeath and Kefka.

"Come on Garland, what's a couple of explosions between friends?" Kefka reached out and put his hand on Garland's shoulder, taking a step forward to allow him to lean on the knight, before being promptly rejected by Garland's armored elbow going into his gut.

Kefka fell to the floor, Garland turned to look down at the insane jester. "Do not think that the abilities showcased by the Esper-girl you enslaved grants you any leverage with me, or with Chaos."

Garland began to walk off, moving past all of the other Chaos Warriors. "I shall speak with Chaos now." Garland took a few steps forward before turning around to the Warriors of Chaos. "Emperor Mateus, I leave our movement and operation to you."

_You are, after all, the only other one who knows the truth_…


	2. Battles Begin

**To answer the question of the first reviewer... well, the only reviewer so far. I don't plan to include any more characters then the ones introduced in the first chapter, along with the indirectly mentioned Terra. I need to have a reasonable limit on the amount of characters. Otherwise, i'd be overwealmed trying to balance everyone, and it would result in certain characters simply disappearing for no reason for large spans of time. Though I do plan for characters to mention characters from their own world. It's kinda a bit of a pain how the vast majority of the Chaos Warriors in Dissidia were apperantly involved in a previous cycle, Cloud of Darkness, Golbez, Ultimecia, and Kuja were the only ones who showed no sign of being part of a former conflict.**

**Anyway, to move on, I should note that, in this story, Sorceress Adel is only slightly taller then Garland. If I try to use her height from VIII, i'd run into problems, espeically since in the last chapter, Gabranth was evidentially able to simply reach out and grab Adel's arm.**

**Really though, I never understood the oddity about Adel's height in VIII. In the flashbacks, she's about 2 to 3 times Laguna's height, but when you fight her in the Lunatic Pandora, she's somehow grown to about 8 to 9 times the height of the average person. What?**

**Last chapter had what I feel was a slightly clumsy execution, but it was a character introduction chapter, so I guess that's understandable. In this chapter we lead up to two different fights, but after the fights, the story should be much more focused on plot narrative, hopefully.**

**Jecht's personality had to be written based completely on how he was portrayed in Dissidia, i've never played X. Sephiroth's personality is sorta written without any real grounds to it, just my perception of how he would act when he was SOLDIER, and before he went all nuts over Jenova.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Dissidia or Final Fantasy or any of it's characters. Belongs to Square-Enix.**

* * *

As the three warriors gathered around the throne of Cosmos, a strand of light pierced the sky. Easily gathering their attention, the light came down and settled upon the throne, briefly surging, the light began to take a fluid, but clearly human, shape. Quickly it solidified into exactly what they expected to see. Cosmos, goddess of harmony.

"About damned time." Jecht stretched his armored right arm out and gave an exaggerated yawn, oblivious to Sephiroth's drilling eyes. Sephiroth had been taught to not disrespect his superiors, though he was open to the idea of grumbling behind their backs. Like with Hojo.

"Warriors of Cosmos, those chosen by Chaos are beginning their move." Cosmos' hands fell quietly in her lap, sitting so peacefully on her throne. Her face could perhaps be described as empty, while a divine being probably wouldn't be the most joyous of creatures, it seemed to be more then that, despite fighting for such a just cause, there seemed to be no sign of happiness, love, no positive emotion seemed to grace her. The Warriors of Cosmos couldn't possibly be aware of her lack of drive, her sheer hopelessness.

"The Warriors of Chaos will attempt to win by show of force, you must repel them."

"Wait, that's it?" Jecht reaffirmed his grip on his weapon as an expression of aggravation appeared on his face. "We wait all that time for you to appear, and what you say just amounts to "Go out and fight 'em"?"

"Jecht, enough." Sephiroth had little patience for someone as blunt and self-important as Jecht. "Cosmos, our mission is to meet the aggression of the Chaos Warriors, correct?"

"Yes, Sephiroth." Cosmos stood up off her throne, Sephiroth and Laguna were on her left and right, respectively. "The ones known as Garland and Adel are approaching this area."

"Wait, Adel?" Laguna brought his machine gun up against his chest, the name had certainly reminded him of his own world.

"Someone from your world, Laguna?" Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at how Laguna had reacted to the name.

"Yeah, you might say that." Laguna shook his head. "Sorceress Adel is, was, the leader of Esthar, she had been a very cruel leader. She even kidnapped Ellone."

"Who's Ellone?" Jecht posed the question, genuine curiosity in the beast.

"Oh, uh… she's, I guess you could call her my kid. Raine already had her when I met her, but…"

"I don't know who the hell you're talking about." Jecht stood still, watching as Laguna sighed at the dismissive response of the one who brought the conversation up in the first place.

"They're coming." Cosmos repeated, looking toward the horizon. Two figures approached, both seemingly much taller then the typical person. Walking slowly through the water, the slightly shorter figure, Garland, seemed to walk ahead of the taller figure, Adel.

"Brave Warriors of Cosmos, you must win this battle." Cosmos disappeared in a flash of light. Sephiroth took several steps forward from his comrades, neither Cosmos or Chaos ever seemed to take too much direct action in the war, they must have had a reason for this, though it would never fail to irk some of the warriors on both sides.

Sephiroth stood up straight, assuming a fighting stance, the blade of his sword pointing directly at his enemies, this was his usual stance, his SOLDIER stance. This pose had been used in his countless missions back in his world.

Laguna had a more hunched stance, bending his knees slightly, and pivoting his upper body forward, he held his machine gun with his right arm, his left arm primarily free, though the stance was done with the expectation that he could use his left arm for the gun at any possible moment.

Jecht had a much more relaxed stance. Merely standing up straight in a casual fashion, he didn't even bother to enter a proper fighting stance. Merely having one hand on his sword, with the blade resting on the ground.

"It's been a long time, Laguna." The air around Adel distorted as the Sorceress begin to gather magical energy to herself.

"Not long enough, Adel." Laguna pointed his gun at Adel, seemingly forgetting about Garland. This would prove unimportant, though, as Garland seemed intent on training his gaze on Sephiroth and Jecht. This was 2-on-3, and it wasn't in Garland's favor, considering how Adel seemed intent only on Laguna, he had to be able to handle the other two solo.

* * *

"So this is where the worms have holed themselves up at."

Richard, Galuf, and Shantotto turned their gaze up to the throne of the Chaos Shrine, the direction the voice had come from. Standing in front of the throne were two figures, one of them, clad in heavy armor, was the owner of the voice, Exdeath. With a single sword in his left hand, it might have been difficult to guess how truly, he was a wielder of magic, rather then swords.

To Exdeath's left was a much smaller figure, with apparel of a clown, the jester, Kefka, was making erratic twitching motions, but kept his gaze on the three Warriors of Cosmos before him. The clown, in truth, had an immeasurable magic power within him.

"That's all?" Shantotto tilted her head to the side in amusement, the idea of taking them on with a number disadvantage seemed preposterous to her. "Let's hope you're ready to take a fall."

"Wait… I know that one." Galuf took a step ahead of his two companions, focusing his gaze on the tall knight, There was… something familiar about him. "Augh, my head!" Galuf grabbed the side of his head with his right arm before taking a few steps back, a jog to his memory? He knew that knight from somewhere.

"Oh, Galuf, my old "friend", you recognize me, how heartwarming." Exdeath let loose with a deep laugh as he observed Galuf's confusion, "It is a shame you don't have your complete memory, or else this would be so much sweeter."

"Come on, Exdeath, let's just kill 'em!" Kefka suddenly straightened himself up to a proper standing position, "Destruction and death! Oh, and you can do that "Void" thing of yours when it's all over."

Exdeath sighed at Kefka's enthusiasm over violence and destruction, the need to return all worlds to the Void was born out of a need to do away with such half-baked foolishness, both the actions themselves, and the fools who were enthralled by their desire to partake in it.

"I'm afraid just the two of you won't be able to stand up against us." Richard unsheathed the Blood Spear from his back, bending his knees slightly, he had the spear pointing directly toward the two Warriors of Chaos.

"What? Two?" Kefka brought his hand up to his face, placing it directly above his eyes and across his face, creating the mock image that he was looking around. "Exdeath, you see any "two" Warriors of Chaos? 'cause I sure don't!"

Exdeath silently grumbled as Kefka's sense of humor took center stage of the unfolding drama. He decided to interject before Kefka had a chance to say anything else.

"There is a third among the Warriors of Chaos who have appeared here." Exdeath evenly spoke, though it completely rattled Kefka, who turned around and hissed at Exdeath for spoiling his fun. "Esper, come out and assist!"

Upon speaking those words, a loud crash was heard from up above, glancing upwards, the Warriors of Cosmos saw a large hole that had been punched into the ceiling of the Chaos Shrine, through a few pieces of rubble, there was a humanoid figure, one white-skinned, far more white then most humanoids.

The figure descended to the floor in front of Exdeath and Kefka, and immediately fell onto it's knees. The figure was humanoid, yes, but that was all that was human about the figure, with white skin and clawed fingers, the creature had a huge mane of hair stretched out from the back of it's head before drooping down.

"Terra, do show those three what a good playmate you are!" Kefka laughed as the figure, Terra, got up from her knees, her actions feral, with her claws bent in a threatening manner, lunged at the Warriors of Cosmos…


	3. Swords Clash

**You know, all chapters currently uploaded were uploaded exactly three days apart from each other. Don't get any particular ideas though, I don't actually plan to have any real constants in terms of deadlines for uploading.**

**Anyway, this is an extra long chapter, so you may want to have some food when you read this. Considering we have two big battles, and quite a bit of foreshadowing to cover.**

***ahem* To answer the questions of the reviewers, actually, the same person who I answered the questions of in the last chapter...**

**1. Galuf's amnesia is more based on the fact that Dissidia seemed to overflow with references and trivia and other bits of fan-service to the original games. Like Squall's "I refuse to become the past" battle intro, which is based on a scene in VIII where he stresses that he doesn't want to be talked about in the past tense.**

**2. There's an unequal number of Cosmos Warriors and Chaos Warriors, so not everyone has a direct opposition. This story doesn't have the crystals and all that in it, so there's no need to have everyone up against someone from their own game.**

**As for the other reviewer who questioned how Galuf will fight... you just read and see.**

**You know, when I was writing this chapter, I need a check at Amano's artwork for Richard and Galuf. Richard wasn't at all suprising, beyond the fact that his armor had a darker color then I thought it would be. It was mainly Galuf that suprised me, he wears that black suit, sure, but... what IS that thing on his back? Some kind of turtle shell shield... strange.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Dissidia, don't own Final Fantasy, blah blah blah, don't sue.**

* * *

Jecht wasted no time to get things started off. Charging directly toward Garland, who was more then ready to respond with appropriate force. With a resounding "clang" their swords met each other, and then they met each other again, and again, and again, Jecht was striking each blow with all the force his muscles could put out, yet even Jecht's strength seemed insufficient against the knight who had observed the cycle of conflict from the very beginning.

Even as he met and deflected all of Jecht's attacks, he was aware of Sephiroth's actions, with another blow, he knocked Jecht several feet away, enough for the breathing room necessary to deal with Sephiroth, who came at him at an angle. The blows from Sephiroth's Masamune were easy enough to deflect, the massive weight of his sword easily overpowered Sephiroth's much thinner sword, yet it complicated issues when Jecht re-continued his offense. To Garland's favor, his sword was a flexible sword, in fact, it could be more then a sword, the blade he choose and been crafted specifically for the purpose of dealing with variable situations, and was thus itself a variable weapon. He merely placed his second hand on the hilt, and the blade separated into two, with a smaller sword in each hand, he was able to stave off the aggression of the two Warriors of Cosmos much more easily.

Several meters from Garland and his enemies, Adel had her attention focused entirely on Laguna, the Sorceress called down blasts of energy upon the ex-Galbadian, who swiftly tuck rolled away from such attempts on his life, and responded with a string of fire from his machine gun. The bullets blazed across Adel's chest, but didn't faze her at all, a Sorceress could create protection against such things, Adel had a thin layer of shielding in front of her, generated by her magic, protecting her from an attack as mundane as gunfire. She had long used the shield, even Esthar's scientific brilliance couldn't craft a weapon that could pierce the shield. Magic truly was superior to technology.

Adel stretched out an arm, the flow of energy crackled through it, her entire arm quivered from the surge of the energy through it. The energy had begun to pull away from her arm, circulating and forming into a white ball of energy, hovering over her open palm. Adel casually pointed at Laguna, sending the blast flying straight towards him.

Laguna wasn't so stupid as to just sit and wait for the ball of energy to reach him, and quickly tore to the left across Order's Sanctuary's shallow water. The ball of energy moved past him, when it suddenly turned back around, having been looking over his shoulder, Laguna saw this in advance and turned around. It was practically suicidal, he was running straight toward the energy ball, but it seemed he had some kind of plan. He kept running straight toward the ball of energy, closer, closer, and then he suddenly dropped.

More accurately, he began to slide, he made a short hop and positioned his body back, allowing himself to fall onto his back and slide through the water. The ball of energy tried to follow him, but failed to U-Turn as sharp as it needed to and collided directly into the ground. The result of the collision was an inferno, a blast of white flame that snaked straight up into the sky, the flames actually didn't cover very much ground, but stretched up vertically higher then he could see.

His slide came to a stop, he had a moment to breath… or not. He had to immediately get up to a sitting position as a blast of white energy came flying at the area his head had been yet, then quickly went into a standing, and running, position as several more bolts of the white energy were flung at him. Turning to look over his shoulder, he saw who he expected to see as the culprit of the attack, the energy was being generated by Adel, who was simply standing at the edge of the field of vision, seemingly content to just sit there and let her blasts of energy fight for her.

* * *

"Worthless opponent." Garland struck Jecht straight in the face with a clenched fist, sending him several feet back from the action, momentarily leaving him unable to partake in the battle. All that he had to contend with now was Sephiroth, and he became much simpler now that he was by himself. Sephiroth's sword arm could strike a score of blows in a minimal span of time, but it didn't do him much good if he had to recoil so massively every time the Masamune struck Garland's sword, fused back together.

"I see you think of yourself as a righteous Warrior of Cosmos…" Garland slightly relented his assault, Emperor Mateus had a… special purpose for this pawn of Cosmos. There were words spoken by Mateus that he needed to here.

"Yet what if I said that Cosmos won't always be your savior? What if you looked into your future and saw only Chaos?"

Sephiroth's eyes flickered for a moment, enough to confirm the success of the words. Mateus' message would not break him so quickly, and he couldn't be properly called rattled with just that exchange, but it would open the path for Mateus' plan for Sephiroth, whatever that plan was. Sephiroth reaffirmed himself quickly enough, and slashed again with the Masamune, another strike that failed to get through Garland's defense.

Adel had a smirk across her face. She had yet to hit Laguna, but as she fired pulse after pulse, as she let loose blast after blast, as she energized Ultima after Ultima, he had only managed to run, beyond the occasional burst from his gun, all of which were futile with her shield up, he could do nothing to stand up to her. It was inevitable that he would eventually fail to dodge an attack from her, and she could begin taking her revenge, Laguna would know legendary agony for his part in imprisoning her, and he-

"Don't leave me out of the fun!" Jecht, with his sword in hand, sliced across Adel's back. Her shielding was only in the front, to prevent anything from Laguna. Adel stood erect for a moment before hunching forward, with a sudden motion of her hands, she disappeared, and then reappeared several meters away from Jecht.

"Wha-? Jecht, what are-"

"I noticed how you couldn't do a thing with this girl, couldn't handle your own challenges, much like a certain crybaby I know."

Laguna sighed but took a moment to relax himself after listening to Jecht's somewhat insultive logic to justify helping him, but he wasn't going to complain right now, especially since he needed a moment to breath against Adel.

"You savage mortals…" Adel straightened herself back up, gaining the attention of both Laguna and Jecht, "I'll carve out your hearts and put them on pikes in Esthar!"

"No, Adel." Garland appeared behind the Sorceress, without anyone even noticing, at that. "Our operation has been successful and our message delivered."

Garland stole a glance at Sephiroth, charging at Adel and Garland at full speed, Garland was not to cause any significant injury to Sephiroth, but if the fight continued for much longer, he would have no choice but to do something much longer lasting to Sephiroth.

"Return us to Chaos' Throne. Our business here is concluded." Adel scowled at Garland's orders, but she was compelled to obey. Garland knew exactly how to diffuse her in the case of a battle. With a sudden movement of her arm, Adel and Garland began to slowly dissipate into the air.

"Consider my words, Sephiroth." Garland laughed as Sephiroth came to a halt, understanding that his strikes would no longer harm Garland or Adel. "What would you do, if all you remember was an illusion?"

Garland and Adel vanished, leaving only bits of purple smoke behind them, a disturbance in the shallow water where they had stood. It also triggered some stares from Laguna and Jecht, directed at Sephiroth.

"Wait, did that knight-guy say something to you?" Jecht tilted his head to the side, Sephiroth's face, however, was blank.

"He said nothing to me." Sephiroth shook his head and allowed his sword to disappear into a flash of white light, something that all the Cosmos Warriors were capable of doing, though many of them were content to just carry their weapons around.

"We should move out. If the Chaos Warriors are launching an offensive, we should re-group with the other three."

* * *

Terra let loose with a shrill cry as she charged toward the Warriors of Cosmos, nothing to unnerve them, and indeed, they were ready for it, Galuf definitely was.

"Big Guard!" Galuf may have lost his memory of his life, but his skills as a warrior, and as mage, hadn't left him. As he spoke the words, a ethereal crest formed in front of him and his comrades, shaped like a shield. Terra's lunge sent her straight into it, the crest surged for a quick moment, but the energy quickly repelled her, sending her flying back, but she landed on her feet, and quickly began another assault.

As she ran forward, the Big Guard started to destabilize, it was clear that they weren't going to be protected by it by the time Terra reached them again. Richard, however, was up to par for it, positioning himself in front of his two allies, he witnessed as Terra's second lunge tore through the energy shield, but he was ready, pointing his spear at her, he saw the feral strike, he had enough experience to tell that she had considerable magical power in herself, but for the moment, she was content to simply attempt to slash at them with her claws. Those claws might just have been enough, as they met Richard's spear, they slashed deep gashes into the wooden handle, though Richard was quick enough to spin his spear and strike Terra in her gut with the end of the weapon, opposite the spear-head. Momentarily pushed back, Terra quickly continued her assault, and this time her claws didn't move toward the spear. They sank right into Richard's armor, and though they didn't pierce it, they left unmistakable slash marks across it.

"Spellblade!" Galuf raised his sword, a simple steel sword, monotonous in appearance, except that after he spoke that last word, the blade has begun to take on a white shine to it. As Galuf charged forward, he shouted again. "Firaga!" The sword's white glow turned to red, and then disappeared, the silver steel had been replaced by a crimson color, with his augmented weapon, he charged to the assistance of Richard… but was stopped by a floating sword.

It took little brain-power to realize that this was Exdeath's sword, glancing over at the throne, Galuf saw exactly what he expected to see, Exdeath stood erect, and made frequent swinging and thrusting motions with his right arm, and Exdeath's sword reacted accordingly. The sword first flew straight at him, intent on skewering Galuf upon itself, but missed as Galuf took a step to the left, the sword promptly spun around and attacked again, this time with a downward arcing slash, Galuf brought his sword up defensively and allowed Exdeath's sword to collide with his, the force was almost crippling, Galuf could feel his legs quiver from the impact, Exdeath knew how to apply power, and his old age didn't help matters either.

"Flare!" Galuf's concentration was briefly disoriented when he heard Shantotto's voice, though considering her background, he knew exactly what was coming. The ground beneath Exdeath's blade erupted into fire and the blast of fire incinerated upwards, ensnaring and frying the sword.

"Blizzara!" Shantotto wasn't quite done with her assault, and the blast of ice that shot out from her staff went straight towards the fire and… passed right through the fire, without melting or evaporating at all, it was heading straight for… Terra. Yet she noticed it coming, even as her claws were fending off Richard's spear.

"Wall!" Even her spell casting voice was shrill, but it got the job done. As she screamed the spell's name, she thrust her right arm up, generating a green transparent wall, the spell of Blizzara struck the Wall spell, and the blast of ice splintered into hundreds of tiny pieces as it failed to reach Terra. Terra's homicidal and maniac mind only just comprehended and understood that the attack against her had failed when Richard was suddenly on her again, yet he couldn't capitalize on her small gap in attention well enough, and if anything, he was doing worse now, as she become more open to the use of magic.

Shantotto was readying herself for another blast, this time with a -ga spell, in the hopes that there was no way Terra's wall could stop it, when she suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning around, she saw a white-faced clown looking at her, hunched over so his head was level with hers.

"Did you know that was _my_ toy you just tried to break?!" Kefka's voice was the kind that could send a shiver down a grown man's spine. A blast of energy surged in Kefka's open palm, not enough to impress Shantotto, who simply jumped back and prepared another blast of magic.

"Ultima!"

"Thundara!"

Kefka's Ultima spell came out first, but was less intimidating in appearance, it took the shape of a small blue orb that even a Tarutaru like Shantotto could have held in her hand. Shantotto's Thundara, on the other hand, quickly traveled past the Ultima orb and to Kefka. Kefka took the full blow of the blast, but all it managed was to make him take a full step back, Kefka's status as a mage meant that magic was of limited effectiveness against him, of course, Shantotto enjoyed that same resistance. She didn't expect exactly what Kefka's Ultima orb was, though. In her arrogance, she had allowed the Ultima to move right into her, believing that the natural magical defenses she had would be enough to counter it. She couldn't have been more wrong.

As the orb got near her, it suddenly began expanding, and exploding. One explosion after another, Shantotto's defenses practically didn't exist against Kefka's Ultima. After several highly pyrotechnic seconds, the explosions were finished, and maybe Shantotto was as well, she painfully crouched down, but she wasn't quite out yet. In the early times of her life, she had been a White Mage, and hadn't forgotten that trade.

"Curaja!" Shantotto made a wave of her hand, and all the damage from the blast of Ultima vanished instantly, prompting, of all things, a smirk from Kefka, when she thought it would infuriate him.

"Oh… a durable toy. This is a nice change of pace!" Kefka let out a laugh, almost as shrill as Terra's screams, and all the more unnerving.

"Kefka!" Galuf, his sword still with Firaga attuned to it, charged at the insane clown, with both hands on his sword, and Kefka's unawareness of his presence till just a few moments back, it seemed that Kefka would have no choice but to accept the punishment of the flaming sword… when a suddenly flash of white energy appeared between Galuf and Kefka, and who should walk out of the light but Exdeath. Exdeath stood casually between Galuf and Kefka, with his sword in his hands, and no damage on it at all, Shantotto's Flare spell had seemingly only delayed Exdeath's attacks.

"As amusing as it would be to see Kefka die, he shares the same ambition as me. An existence of nothing!" Exdeath raised his arm up, his sword spun in the air in response, before landing and impaling it's end on the ground, with Exdeath's hand falling to rest on the sword's hilt.

* * *

"Tornado!" Terra twisted her white-skinned body around as gusts of air began to swirl around her, finally centering the winds into three points around her, forming into twisters around her. Richard attempted to jump back, but he was hopelessly caught by the gusts of wind, and was dragged to a point above Terra as the wind tore into him, he could hear, and feel, bits and pieces of his armor being ripped off of him by the wind, and then Richard was shot straight up in the air. Terra couldn't have known, however, that that was a very bad thing. Richard quickly regained control of himself and plummeted back down, spear in hand.

"Even you should know…" Richard positioned himself so he was falling head-first with his spear in his right hand. "…that Dragoons are most dangerous when they're above you!" Richard came down on Terra, and his spear went straight for her, slashing straight across her side, the wound gave way to blood leaking out across her left hip, igniting a snarl from the Esper-girl as she took a step back from the landed Richard.

"Cure!" The girl snarled out as a flash of white appeared around her wound, closing it quickly before it could seriously in-convenience her in the battle. Could she say that most of her previous enemies had lasted this long? She'd probably be unable to understand the question if asked.

Richard backed a few steps back, and then felt something touch his back, spinning around he nearly jammed his spear into Galuf's face, and nearly had Galuf's sword thrust into his.

"Nice to see you, too." Galuf withdrew his weapon and turned his back to Richard, Exdeath and Kefka were still in front of him, and even with those two technically sandwiched between him and Shantotto, this wasn't going to be easy, but perhaps Richard has been taking on the strongest of the three by himself.

"This has actually been going better then I thought it would." Richard trained his spear on Terra, it actually had been, considering that it was an even-numbered fight, but the Warriors of Chaos were showing the ability to shrug off effectively every attack that hit them. "We might win this yet."

Kefka let out a laugh when Richard's words reached his ears, the idea of the three managing to beat them was an absurdity. Only one attack to his favorite toy had managed to do anything considerable enough to need healing. Why, the only way they could win at this point is if an angel came from the sky and-

Kefka's train of thought was cut off by a sound, like banging rocks against the ground… no, not quite that… more like… gunfire.

Kefka saw the sparks of bullets trailing across the floor of the Chaos Shrine, leading directly up to him. He glanced up towards the damaged roof of the shrine, and was able to see three figures standing above one of the many openings of the building, but wasn't able to grasp any identities before he had to deal with the bullets heading toward him.

"Protect!" Kefka raised a magical shield up around him and Exdeath, though the fact that he also protected Exdeath was a mere by-product of the fact that he was standing right beside Kefka. The bullets struck the shield, but failed to penetrate it, but in a moment, the shield would meet it's match.

"Let me in on this!" One of the three figures jumped into the air and swooped down upon the action, he landed on his feet, and with his direct appearance, now everyone could tell who this was, and who the other two were.

"Jecht!" Richard loosened his stance, forgetting the presence of Terra in front of him as he saw Jecht charging straight toward Kefka, who nimbly moved to the left, outside of the field of his Protect spell, leaving Exdeath to deal with the assault. Jecht swung his sword up, and then back down against the Protect barrier, the energy of the spell surged for a moment, but then faltered as Jecht charged through the opening that was spreading and ending the existence of the spell, forcing Exdeath to take action.

Exdeath's sword once again floated out of his hands, going forward to meet Jecht's charge, it stopped Jecht, but only because he had brought his sword up to deflect the blast and needed to maintain his ground as the impact sent it's surge through his body. Exdeath had no time to capitalize on Jecht's moment of immobilization, however, as Sephiroth came down immediately after Jecht's sword collided with Exdeath's, landing right in-between Jecht and Exdeath.

Exdeath was concerned by this, not because of any possibility of being defeated by the SOLDIER, but for another reason.

* * *

"…_one last thing Exdeath."_

_Exdeath turned back to look at the Emperor, the man was obsessed with his every order being followed down to the letter. For the time being, Exdeath had no qualms about following those orders, weather the Emperor's plans succeeded or not, weather Exdeath's ambitions succeeded or not, one way or another, all worlds would be consumed by the Void. It was an inevitable process._

"_What is it, Emperor?"_

"_If you should encounter Sephiroth at the Chaos Shrine, do not inflict him with any significant damage, I have a… special plan for that one." The Emperor's face gave way to a smile, a very cold smile by the standards of mortals, most likely, but Exdeath did not judge by such standards._

"_You expect me to baby one of the Warriors of Cosmos?" Exdeath did not sound indigent, exactly, but the question gave the appearance that he was._

"_If Chaos is to win the war, Cosmos' most competent and most dedicated soldier must be dealt with properly, but simply fighting him and breaking him in combat is not enough." The Emperor gave a glance to Exdeath, it was impossible to know what that knight was thinking at any time, he had no true face to read. Though at any given moment, one could easily presume he was thinking of something regarding the Void. "Furthermore, if you do encounter Sephiroth, I have a message I want you to give him."_

"_A message…?"_

* * *

"Sephiroth." Exdeath spoke casually, apparently casually enough for Sephiroth to disengage from any potential charge. "Are you sure you trust Cosmos?"

"She is the one who leads me in this war. She is my commanding officer." Sephiroth brought up the Masamune to point it towards Exdeath, saying nothing else, even as Exdeath began to laugh at him.

"The fates do not smile on this who do not seek the truth." Exdeath reached out an arm and grabbed his sword as it came back to his hand, even as he saw Sephiroth's eyes slightly narrow as he spoke the words, before quickly reaffirming themselves. Jecht casually paced up until he was beside Sephiroth, even with his sword in hand, Exdeath might not be able to stand against both of them, but his message had been delivered, and he couldn't risk extended contact with Sephiroth.

"Kefka! We are withdrawing. Retrieve the Esper-girl, we are returning to the Edge of Madness." Exdeath witnessed Kefka giving him a scowl, but for the time being, the mad clown was willing to follow such orders, and beckoned Terra over to him.

With the three Warriors of Chaos together, Kefka summoned a blue ring on the floor around the feet of him and his "allies". With a surge of energy, the ring powered up and Exdeath, Kefka, and Terra were teleported away in a flash of blue light.

"Well, that didn't seem so bad." Laguna jumped down onto the ground level, bringing him close to his five companions.

"Of course it went well. With me around, it could have only gone swell!" Shantotto let loose with a laugh, one that tended to drive Richard and Galuf insane, and it was evidentially clear that Jecht and Laguna weren't amused by it either.

* * *

"Emperor, an update." Judge Gabranth stood, his unique double-sided weapon held in his right hand, as he approached the Emperor, gazing out toward the distance from the throne of Chaos, seemingly examining the lava soaked plain that Chaos made his home in. After several moments, the Emperor twisted his body, allowing him to look at Gabranth without disturbing his legs. Gabranth assumed that this was all the answer and acknowledgement his statement was going to get, so he would continue.

"The report is in, we… lost at both Order's Sanctuary and the Chaos Shrine. Our Warriors fled astonishingly early in both encounters." Gabranth, even with his helm on, fidgeted enough that others could see that he was agitated by the cowardice of his comrades. He had effectively demanded that the Emperor let him lead a charge.

"I see." The Emperor turned back to the fields of fire that stretched out before him, constantly soaked in a rain of lava. Unbeknownst to Gabranth, the outcome of both encounters was exactly as the Emperor would have wanted. Sephiroth was an adversary that required special care, merely defeating him in battle would do no good. He had to be broken, to be unwilling to go on, what better way then to place a carrot in front of him, and let him try to grasp at it until he realizes that the carrot reveals the truth of the cycle of conflict?

"Gabranth. I have a solo assignment for you." The Emperor did not divert his gaze, though he could hear a sudden clinking of metal, Gabranth had wanted a combat assignment. The Emperor knew everything about Gabranth, he knew everything about every warrior in the cycle, except for Garland. He knew how Gabranth was driven by hatred, he wanted something to tear apart and prove his capabilities to the other Warriors of Chaos.

"What is this solo assignment? Ask of me, and I shall deliver." Gabranth waited patiently for the order, he could feel a tension mounting up in him as the Emperor turned to him, this time turning the entire body, to deliver the orders.

* * *

**We'll be seeing Gabranth in action, next chapter.**


	4. Beginnings

**Is it n00bish to use the Author Notes to answer the questions of the reviewers? I've only been at for a little over a month, so i'm still kinda new. I can see that the reviews have a "reply to this review" function, but I would think that the story author really shouldn't be talking in the reviews...**

**Anyway, while I was playing through Dissidia, I found something interesting, in the first of the four Shade Impulse Chapters, Ultimecia mentions "I have had an eternity to master my gambit." Evidentially, Ultimecia was another character who has memories from a previous cycle. Damn. Oh well, i'll roll with Adel for this fan-fic.**

**Shantotto's annoying to write, but i'll try to give her more of a speaking role, though I note that in the Distant Glory associated with her, not everything she says is part of a rhyme, but i'll still have to roll with the majority of her diologue being part of a rhyme.**

**I'm also going to try and use stages and locales that weren't in the Dissidia game, even areas that were part of numbered games that do not have any character representation.**

**This is a kinda short chapter, espeically compared to the last chapter, moving the story along... it should kick up pretty soon though. I have a general, but vague, planning for the story.**

**Disclaimer: I own nuttin.**

* * *

"Not sure this was the best idea…" Galuf paced along the path he was in, it was known as Esthar. A shard of a world that was copied for the conflict, supposedly it came from Laguna's world. It had once been ruled by Adel, one of the Warriors of Chaos, by Laguna's explanation, her rule must of ended barely a month ago.

"Hey, I'll enjoy this, if it makes more of Chaos' kids think we're easy pickings." Jecht let the blade of his sword drag on the ground, carving a glaring wound on the metallic street. For the moment, Jecht was all Galuf was traveling with, the Warriors of Cosmos had chosen to separate into three groups of two, Galuf and Jecht was one such group, along with Sephiroth and Laguna, and a third group of Richard and Shantotto.

"I still think that Sephiroth should of thought this one out a bit more." Galuf shook his head. "I know he's probably used to being a one-man-army in that SOLDIER he rattles on about, but some of us aren't exactly used to wars."

"What? Stick together and let the kids thing they're accomplishing something?" Jecht let out a small laugh as he reflected on the other Warriors of Cosmos, not that he really knew the age of any of the others, especially Shantotto. "We're probably better off this way, Galuf. We get to show all the cry-babies how it's done!"

* * *

"We have no choice but to stop the Chaos Warrior's blight! Otherwise, we'll never shine in the light!"

"Shantotto, for _five minutes_, please talk like a regular huma… whatever you are."

"The Tarutaru are upstanding folks, so why do you just sit there and sulk?"

Shantotto let loose another laugh, both the rhymes and the laughs were like nails on chalk for Richard. He almost felt he would rather suffer under a Palamecian interrogator then continue listening to Shantotto. Almost.

Richard stole a look above him, the sky in this area was a pleasant blue with a few scattered clouds. It looked like a natural good day, no one could have looked up at it and guessed it was the sky of the place he was it. The city they were in… to call it "advanced" would be an understatement, even if it was just a shard of a world copied for the conflict, he could see the machinery and technology that kept it going. All around him were electric boards that read "Zanarkand". Jecht had occasionally mentioned a place with that name, though Richard hadn't pried anything more out of Jecht.

"Oh? Why are you just sitting there like a bum? Let's find a Warrior of Chaos, then I can have some real fun!"

Richard sighed and grabbed his spear off his back as he saw Shantotto zoom off. Her short legs belied the speed she was apparently capable of, Though Richard only needed to moderately jog to keep at pace with her, as confident in herself as she was, it would be a bad move for her to try and take on more then one Warrior of Chaos by herself, it might be a bad move for her to engage anything without his assistance, so the two found themselves running down a road on this exceptionally advanced city. There were no people, of course, Cosmos and Chaos only copied the areas and locales when they made shards, they hand-picked the warriors who appeared in the world themselves, not half as arbitrary as the selection of the components of the world their warriors war on.

Yet even if there was no one there, Richard still dreaded the possibility of Deist existing somewhere in this collected world of the gods. There were a lot of memories of Deist in him, warm friendship, feelings of valor, and the pain of realizing that his companions were dead. _Dead._

* * *

Sephiroth and Laguna also found themselves in a locale that wasn't part of either person's world. In fact, this locale was not part of the world of any combatant in the war, though the two could not possibly of known that. This place was known as "Orphan's Cradle", and it was a sight to behold.

"Amazing, if only I had a camera…" Laguna stood at the edge of one of the pathways that floated in the air, with nothing apparent holding it up. Like magic, it seemed an odd blend of magic and Esthar's technology. The pathways were connected with each other, beyond strange gaps and sudden arcing pathways that would require one to jump.

"This puts Shinra's technology to shame, no doubt." Sephiroth wasn't quite as impressed as Laguna was, but he couldn't deny the clear advancement of the technologies present here. The people of that world must fear very little, if this is any indication of their technological prowess.

The two continued to walk along the paths throughout Orphan's Cradle, they were unaware, of course, that they were being followed.

Gabranth overlooked the two from a higher vantage point in the Cradle. Directly behind him was what appeared to be a floating statue, in the image of a woman, holding a staff, though she was motionless. Whatever role the floating statue had performed in her own world, she didn't do it here. The Emperor had termed this area "Orphan's Cradle". The name of the place did not concern Gabranth, he would never find relevance in Orphan's Cradle, it was a piece of a world he wasn't a part of. He was far more interested in his orders.

"_Sephiroth is the greatest threat among the Warriors of Cosmos, I do not expect you to win against him, but if you survive you will earn the chance for a true assignment."_

The Emperor seemed to have a special interest in Sephiroth, he had forbid Garland from applying any considerable damage on him, and now he was sending Gabranth out against him. Though Gabranth had no message for him, he wasn't even aware of the Emperor's plan for Sephiroth, rather, he was intent on proving the Emperor wrong, and defeating Sephiroth.

Neither Laguna or Sephiroth seemed to be aware of his presence, even as they frew closer to his perch above them. He had no taste for a sneak attack, though, he would reveal himself more openly before he attacked. Gripping his familiar two-sided weapon, he held his right arm in the air, putting the weapon across from him before grabbing the weapon with his other hand, with both hands pulling in opposite directions, the weapon effortlessly detached into two identical swords.

Sephiroth and Laguna were fast approaching to the area underneath him, Gabranth doubled back, both to get out of sight, and to prepare to reveal himself, he began to walk down the path to their level, a strange spiraling slant that took the place of a more orthodox set of stairs. His dual swords in hand, Gabranth was swiftly approaching the floor, where the two would already have passed his position, he would alert the two of his position behind them…

…and plunge into battle.


	5. Continuing Struggle

**You know, one thing about Dissidia that always bugged me a bit was the extended encounters for Shantotto, where all the heroes act terrified of her and all the villains praise her. In this fic, she's a high-tier magic user on par with the likes of Adel and Kefka and such, but she is not some dominating figure with god-like power, just so we're clear on that.**

**Anyway, Read+Review.**

**Disclaimer: I own nuttin.**

* * *

Laguna and Sephiroth continued to pace through Orphan's Cradle. The white colored floor looked orderly, though not very formal. This was becoming more of a simple march, even if in a fantastical setting. The lack of rails of any sort did raise the question of what, exactly, the area was built for. It certainly didn't have the feel of a public area, or maybe it was grounded once? Not coming from the same world as the locale, they couldn't say what it was for. Though there were signs that battles had taken place here in the past.

"I wonder what the battles here were over…" Laguna took note of some blasts across the floor, the gods copied the "as is" when creating the world, so while people and residents of the worlds did not appear, the things they did to the lands were still very apparent.

"Perhaps the battles led to the death of many people." An unfamiliar voice answered Laguna's question, prompting him and Sephiroth to turn around. "If so, you will now join them!"

The words had come from an armored figure, not quite as intimidating as Garland, the proportions were much more comparable to a regular person, perhaps comparable to Laguna's build.

"I am Judge Magister Gabranth, a Warrior of Chaos." Gabranth strode forward, holding two distinct swords, one in each hand, "But for you, Warriors of Cosmos, I'll be more executioner then judge."

"Oh, you're about as witty as a Galbadian instructor."

Gabranth made effectively no reaction to Laguna's statement, merely lowering himself into a fighting stance. With his knees slightly bended, he held one of his swords in front of him, and the other raised above his head. The stance of this Arcadian Judge, it was a stance that intimidated the other Judges, who had seen his prowess in battle, he was supposedly equal in rank with them, but in many ways, he seemed to be their superior, due to the high level of trust the Arcadian Emperor put in him.

Though he was now working as the subordinate of the Emperor of the Palamecian Empire. That could be interpreted as treason, but no one would ever know, it was doubtful that anyone he knew back in Ivalice would ever know about the conflict of the gods.

Temporarily lost in that moment of reflection, Gabranth almost failed to catch wind of Sephiroth's charge, slashing his weapon across the air instinctually at the last second, Gabranth's left sword arm slightly disoriented Sephiroth when their swords clashed, but not enough to disengage Sephiroth from his attack. The Masamune came at him slightly unevenly due to having to get past Gabranth's swords beforehand, but it still managed to strike, the blade coming against the armor across Gabranth's chest, but it didn't quite do what Sephiroth would have wanted…

"No damage?" Sephiroth leaped back as Laguna charged forward, spraying Gabranth's general direction with bullets, which would prove to be a pointless endeavor, Gabranth, even slightly disoriented by Sephiroth's success in attacking him, was able to effectively counter this, swinging his two sword in seemingly erratic, but truthfully very purposeful cuts, the bullets were being consistently and easily deflected. Though a simple enough attack for Gabranth to diffuse, it would prove to be enough to make him neglect to pay attention to Sephiroth, who was already charging at him again.

Sephiroth came in, slashing at his more lightly armored legs, but the Masamune was repelled by Gabranth's twin swords. Gabranth recoiled further then seemed necessary from the exchange from the needlessly long sword, while Sephiroth responded to the deflection of the attack this simply by slashing again, this time against the more lightly armored legs. The Masamune cut true, slicing through the thin leather on the leg, but Sephiroth wasn't able to determine if the blade touched his skin before he had to leap back in response to a swing of Gabranth's right arm.

Gabranth took a step back as the gunfire from Laguna came to a halt, he hadn't expected an easy fight, especially a two-on-one, but his swings hadn't as much as touched them, though he had somewhat infuriated Sephiroth's offense. If it was just Sephiroth, perhaps this could be going better, but Laguna's interference was costing much in terms of his ability to concentrate on just one opponent.

If he could not succeed in this, he would not be able to complete his own objective of proving himself.

Without thinking, Gabranth moved to an offensive state, slightly lowering himself, his feet took him toward Sephiroth, at a speed that might seem unrealistic for someone in such heavy armor. He should be thankful for that element of surprise, he would need every advantage if he had any hope of standing against these two by himself…

* * *

Richard and Shantotto continued to move through the advanced streets of Zanarkand. Shantotto had finally slowed to a walk after a ridiculously fast-paced half-hour, after which she started to complain a bit over the cities lack of any form of rapid-transport system. Mages were trained differently from warriors, but Richard would have still expected more discipline from the short of stature mage.

Not that he knew the environment she was raised in, she had off-handedly mentioned a "Federation", but beyond that he knew nothing about her up-bringing. Even so, magic was supposedly something that required years of training and diligence to learn, most mages he had met were calm and disciplined, always seeming to analyze everything around them and understand them.

"Is pacing aimlessly around this city your idea of aiding Cosmos?"

Richard and Shantotto took a spin around at the spoken words, Shantotto didn't recognize the voice, but Richard did. He recognized it all too well.

A certain figure had managed to get behind the two without them noticing, with gold armor and a purple cape, Richard was able to identify him immediately.

"Emperor Mateus." The words were almost growls as Richard took a step toward him, taking his spear off his back and hunching into a fighting stance. "What do you want with us?"

"Merely to point you in the right direction." Mateus quietly strode forward, his moments had that distinctive grace a ruler would be expected to have. Though a ruler filled with such pure inhumane ambitions, there was no denying that he was cut from the same cloth as the other kings and queens throughout the worlds. "Sheathe your lance, Dragoon, I did not come here to fight you."

Richard did not comply, but did loosen his stance slightly. Mateus was a merciless backstabber, but he was prideful enough that he rarely outright lied, it would seem logical that he really had no intention of fighting them right now.

"So you fight to end this one's reign?" Shantotto walked beside, and eventually in front of, Richard, having a certain distinct smugness to herself. "I'm sure any power of his is nothing short of a feign."

"What an obnoxious little insect." Mateus pried his eyes from Richard to fixate them on Shantotto. Calling her an "insect" might have been more appropriate then he realized, considering that she was actually about as big as her species could get. "My business is not with you, but with the Dragoon."

"Insect?" Shantotto looked around, looking confused for a moment, before her face took a sharper look. "Wait, did you call me a midget? Why you, when I'm done with you, you'll be in a position where you can't even fidget!"

Richard made a small sigh as he saw Shantotto begin to create a blast of magic to fire at the Emperor. It… wasn't terribly surprising that she would take offense at a term like that, though she didn't seem to realize that she was taking Mateus' statement out of it's context.

A small elementless blast of energy came from Shantotto's wand and flew towards Mateus, who calmly responded by swinging his scepter, creating a magical crest in the air. Shantotto's blast struck the crest, doing no damage whatsoever, and the crest responded to being struck by firing a small series of blasts, homing blasts locked onto Shantotto. The Tarutaru at first attempted to jump back, but the blasts curved to follow her, having no real direction to run to, she was struck by several of the blasts before they stopped and she was flung to the ground. Briefly struggling to stand, Mateus had made it clear that he had no interest in playing around.

"Now, Richard, last of the Dragoons, I have words you will be interested to hear."

Richard kept his eyes trained on the Emperor, but felt a slight ting of curiosity. Misleading or not, Mateus had made it clear that he planned for these words to be heard.

* * *

"Ugh… how many times do you need a nap, dear friend?"

Kefka stood at the Edge of Madness, at his feet was a young girl dressed in casual wear. Only moments ago he was being followed by the enslaved Esper…

"Who is this?" Adel moved to Kefka's side, taking a glance at the girl at his feet. The girl's face was rather innocent, she looked more like someone Kefka would abuse for his afternoon fun then anyone she would take any interest in.

"This is the Esper girl, unfortunately, she feels the need to take a nap and go back to her human form at the most random moments." Kefka answered Adel's question with his usual tone. Adel, on the other hand, was taking note of something else.

"What's that on her head?" Adel pointed a finger at a black ornament, like a thin black oval that was pressed down on her head. Adel was sure it wasn't on the girl when she was an Esper.

"Oh, that? It's a Slave Crown. ol' Emps loved using the things."

"Emps? The Emperor?"

"Wrong Emps. I'm thinking of one from my world."

Kefka let out a small chuckle, he was effectively serving another Emperor, though he'd have preferred ruling by himself. He would have been a better ruler then either of the Emperor's he knew, he knew how to have a good time.

He might of started mentioning his philosophy, until Adel started to talk.

"You use a device to control this girl? You're too weak to control a weak little pest like this?" Adel formed a grin on her face as Kefka turned around and scowled at her, but that alone wouldn't stop Adel's commentary.

"I hear that she was matching up poorly against the Dragoon as well, this is your great toy? A single Esthar soldier would do better then her." Adel chuckled as Kefka started to seethe at the insults she was throwing at his greatest toy. She, as well as Kefka, could annihilate Adel instantly, assuredly.

"What's wrong, jester? Nothing to say in your defense?" Adel's chuckle quieted down, but she refused to stop antagonizing him. "I effectively had Laguna at my mercy before Garland forced me to leave, neither you or the Esper were getting anywhere against your opponents, you realize that more likely then not, I could crush you like a bug?"

Kefka looked like he was about to say something, but was stopped at the last second. Not by Adel, but by something hovering above her.

"Adel."

Adel froze at the distinctively familiar voice and quickly turned around. As expected, the voice was not coming from behind her, but from above. The voice had come from a figure nearly twice her height, and far from human looking. Her effective master, the god of discord…

"C-C-Chaos!" Adel took a step back from the floating figure, with one pair of arms crossed the giant floated down until his feet touched the ground.

"You have been warned about antagonizing the other Warriors of Chaos at length before." Even with a mouth filled with daggers, a small smile could be seen as he witnessed Adel stammering in his presence, trying to save face with him.

"You are aware of the punishment you will receive if your actions jeopardize the campaign against Chaos and her warriors."

"Y-yes, Chaos." Adel took another step back as a low chuckle emanated from Chaos. Adel was little more then a thug with some power to her, she was easily cowed when she came face to face with someone who could defeat her, something Garland, the Emperor, and Chaos were all easily shown to be capable of.

Adel's very ambitions were considered laughable by the others, when she had been sealed away by Laguna, her primary ambition was finding a girl she could transmit her Sorceress power to so she could die in peace. All the others worked non-stop to acquire power, and then acquire more power. Even Garland scoffed at her, the knight believed that battle and conquest is what life was built, rather then die peacefully, he wished his death was on his feet, with the last life in his sword arm spent stabbing a weapon into an opponent's gut.

Adel wished to prove the superiority of her power, but she needed some kind of leverage to defeat them, Kefka she might be able to defeat, Exdeath might be overreaching herself, yet she felt it a forgone conclusion that she could defeat Gabranth, but Garland and Mateus were clearly out of the question. Even so, she would find some way to show them what she was truly capable of.

* * *

"Not finished yet!" Gabranth abandoned his offense in the face of Laguna's gun-fire, charging forward, he could feel the bullets ramming into his armor, yet he felt almost nothing, his speed was being hampered by Laguna's barrage even if it was failing to damage him in any particular way.

Laguna took a jump back, dodging a sudden swing of Gabranth's left sword arm, Laguna flew several feet back, landing somewhat awkwardly on the edge of the pathway of Orphan's Cradle. Gabranth would be given no chance to press the advantage on Laguna, however, as Sephiroth jumped between the two, with the massive Masamune coming straight at Gabranth. Gabranth attempted to jump to the side, but did not fully escape from the attack, the Masamune easily sliced off the left horn on Gabranth's helm.

Gabranth was slightly disoriented as he felt a piece of his armor being torn off, enough disorientation that Sephiroth was able to capitalize on it. With another swing of his sword, Sephiroth struck a blow across Gabranth's chest, this one sliced deep into the armor but did not pierce it entirely, it was enough to make Gabranth retreat back several steps in an attempt to collect himself.

_How did that happen… so fast…_

Gabranth's feet were right next to the severed horn, perhaps the horn could be said to represent himself now. After that exchange, with two blows administered in sudden succession, his confidence, and his chances of victory, had been drastically weakened. If he couldn't find some weakness in the silver-haired swordsman, this battle would end in his…

* * *

"Man, this is all so boring." Jecht yawned as he and Galuf continued to move down Esthar's roads. He was never the patient sort, and Galuf couldn't have been described as the most patient either. They had encountered effectively nothing, so little that it made Jecht wish that Chaos had some kind of minor foot-soldiers he could kill some time with.

Galuf walked alongside him, not much more patient then Jecht, but quite a bit more dignified and respectful then the tanned animal. Though by how much… may not have the most impressive answer.

"If I get any more bored, I swear I'll-"

"Kill someone?"

Jecht's words were cut off, immediately he began looking around for the originator of the voice. It certainly wasn't Galuf, it had been too deep, yet there was no one around besides Galuf and himself… perhaps he had just imagined it.

"Who was that?" Galuf promptly gave Jecht reason to believe that the words had been real, beginning his own investigation of the area around him. Any such investigation, however, was ultimately futile, as the voice came from much further above then they would have expected. Atop one of the buildings of Zanarkand, only about twenty or so feet above them, Garland stood in quiet observation.

Garland was technically older then both men beneath his altitude, though his physical age was actually younger then them. His ageing had been frozen by Shinryu so that he could better guide the conflict. Perhaps across all the worlds, only Shinryu was older then him, he had made no effort to keep track of how many cycles he had gone through, but he knew that they had been going on for eons, with the people of the worlds blissfully unaware of the war that was happening every second of their lives.

Despite his earlier interjection, Garland was not interested in fighting the two right now, the Emperor had demanded an observation be made on the "useless" Cosmos Warriors. The ones that the Emperor had no interest in. Jecht and Galuf could fight right along with the best of them, but their observation and deduction skills obviously left much to be desired, Garland was in plain sight, all the two really needed to do was look up and they would see him. Just in case of an emergency, the Emperor wanted a general understanding of their detective skills, and they had certainly failed there.

After several minutes, the two disengaged from their search and continued down the road through Zanarkand. Someone with even moderate deductive skills likely would have continued searching much longer, the two men weren't savages, but…

Garland took a step back and turned around to report back to the Edge of Madness. According to The Emperor, as long as no one besides Laguna has undue contact with Sephiroth, his plan should flow properly. Garland didn't pretend to understand the Emperor, but as long as he allowed the reason for the cycle to come to fruition much faster…

The time for Garland to directly act again would come, but it was still a while off.


	6. Black Wheel

**"The reason for that is the 'Shantotto Ascension' expanion pack, in which she become a villain and tries to take over the world with her 'Project Shanntottofication.'"**

**Lol! I knew that about Shantotto. Though I never played XI, I at least looked into Shantotto's history and character when I saw her in Dissidia, my fairly recent interest in XI, and my desire to get XIV, can all be attributed to the fact that Shantotto gave me an interest in the FF MMOs.**

**I hear that originally Shantotto wasn't going to be the XI representative, but instead a different character named Prishe, a monk of some sort. In personality she's basically a female Zell, more or less. She "swears constantly" or something. Not sure weather she'd be better or worse in Dissidia compared to Shantotto...**

**Anyway, moving the story along with another chapter. Please review.**

* * *

"What do you think you can accomplish?" Emperor Mateus spoke evenly, a clear contrast versus the seemingly unhinged stance Richard was in. Shantotto stood beside the Dragoon, holding her ground, but reluctant to strike after what her last attack ended with.

Upon the advanced streets of Zanarkand, Mateus' gold armor seemed hideously out of place, though it must be said that neither Richard or Shantotto looked like they belonged any more then he did.

"Do you truly believe your actions can stand up to the Warriors of Chaos? We, who have each obtained an ultimate power, banded together?" Mateus' face gave way to a smile, something that his face often surrendered to when surrounded by such insects.

"I can take you and all the other Chaos Warriors on." Richard tried to sound calm and assured, but a ting of anger was in his voice. Every time he saw the Emperor, or was given any reason to be reminded of Palamecia, he could remember Deist, and what happened. While he was in the Leviathan his people were killed in their sleep by the Emperor.

"Even if you defeat us, it would only be a footmark on our eternal conflict." The Emperor's smile faded away to a more stern expression, Richard didn't realize it, but the Emperor was talking about the cycle of conflict, the war that has repeated itself time and time again. An eternity of endless strife, for Garland, it was a tapestry of war, to Mateus, it was something that needed a despot and master to guide it and be it's master.

"We'll take on a hundred like you. There will come the day the numbers of your kind are far too few." Shantotto let loose with another one of her laughs, causing a flicker of frustration to crease Mateus' face, yet was quickly ironed out as a smile formed on his lips once again.

"You really have no grasp of the situation, I see." A small laugh escaped the Emperor's mouth as he took a step back from the two that stood before him. "Ah, but don't worry, you'll find out soon enough what it's all about."

The Emperor completely turned around and began to walk off, the gold of his boots clashed with the blue of Zanarkand as he continued to walk, but was quickly stopped as Richard called to him.

"Don't try to run from me! The last of the Dragoons will not be denied so easily!" Richard took a step forward, then with a sudden thrust of his arm, the Blood Spear began sailing through the air, flying straight toward the Emperor, with the speed and precision expected from the throwing arm of someone who had probably been trained for something like this his whole life. It wasn't enough to strike the Emperor, however.

The Emperor raised his scepter and a thin aura began to appear around it, without even turning around the Emperor erected a green wave behind him, acting as a physical barrier, the Blood Lance was easily bounced off and flew back to skid to Richard's feet. Dropping the scepter back to a more casual position, the Emperor twisted the upper-half of his body back to look at the two. "If you are so intent on combat, I shall supply an opponent for you."

"Exdeath!" Mateus cried in a tone louder then he had spoken to them with, and in response to his call, the air beside Mateus began to distort and swirl with purple smoke, before a distinctive tall knight began to phase into existence.

Exdeath took a few small steps forward, able to easily see why he had been summoned. The Emperor was no stranger to combat, but he rarely bothered with the Warriors of Cosmos, frequently saying that "Such insects are unworthy even of being crushed under my heel". Kefka was quick to antagonize him there…

"These two are eager for blood Exdeath, why don't you give them their own? I must take my leave to relieve Gabranth from his duties." With a final chuckle, Mateus blurred and faded out of sight, leaving the knight of nothing against the Dragoon and Mage.

Exdeath "humphed" and took a few steps forward, "insects" would have been a more appropriate thing for him to say, he was almost thrice Richard's height. Taking a look down, Richard had just picked up his spear and assumed his battle stance, Shantotto also stood at the ready, both of them had been involved in a fight recently against Exdeath so they had a general idea of what to expect.

But then again…

* * *

Galuf and Jecht were still in Esthar, but evidentially in a different part of it. Like a launch pad, they couldn't have known that this was the launch pad that Ragnarok was to rest on. For all they cared, it was wide and spacious and under the sun, that seemed to be all the convincing Jecht needed to take a nap.

Some might have been against to the idea of sleeping on metal that had probably been in the hot sun all day, but it didn't seem to bother Jecht who casually laid himself down and stretched his arms before closing his eyes, even with his back touching metal that was probably scalding in temperature.

He was prevented from going to sleep, however, when he heard a voice call out.

"What do you think you're doing in my nation? My Empire?"

Jecht impulsively jerked himself up to a sitting position to see where the words had come from. Across from him on the launch pad was a woman… one of the Warriors of Chaos.

_That _is_ a woman, right?_

"I thought this was Laguna's nation." Galuf took a sword out as he made his statement, though as defiant as his stance was, his words seemed to anger Adel more then anything else.

"Esthar is my nation and mine alone, and Laguna was no more then a slave. I will not acknowledge the rule of someone who just so happened to get a lucky shot in." Adel's face was covered in an expression of murderous rage, mentioning Laguna had become her berserk button ever since her sealing.

Adel pointed a finger at Galuf, the mere insinuation of Esthar as Laguna's nation had made him the primary target of her wrath. A small crackle of white energy emanated from her finger, quickly centering on a point directly in front of her nail, before the energy, condensed into a single ball, was sent straight toward Galuf.

"Spellblade!" Galuf raised his sword in a defensive stance, readying the weapon to be strengthened by a spell, yet he made no attempt to infuse the sword with a spell, simply leaving it hanging in the air as a mist began coming off of the sword, looking for the magic to be infused into the blade.

That magic came in the shape of Adel's attack. Striking the sword directly, it reacted to the Spellblade and began to shine a white color. Galuf disengaged himself from his defensive stance and put himself into a more aggressive one, holding his sword with both hands, knees bent and back slightly hunched, it was an almost samurai-like stance.

"I don't know what you just augmented my weapon with, but I bet it's more powerful then a simple Thundaga!" Galuf charged forward, Jecht right behind him, straight for Adel. The Sorceress responded to the charge by attempting to fire a series of blasts from her fingers, all of which were negated by Galuf's empowered sword, weather it was due to the swords new strength, or simply the fact it was powered by the same element now, was unclear, but Adel was having no success in stopping the charge. Galuf and Jecht, at full speed, were bearing right down on Adel, with weapons poised, Adel had made a very poor start to the battle…

* * *

This battle had gone terribly for Gabranth. He mad gotten more then his fair set of swings in, but had done little more then tear the clothes of Sephiroth and Laguna, Gabranth could only stagger backwards as his two enemies held their ground. He felt no life in his legs, there was no telling why he could still stand, it was like he could topple over at any second, yet in his core, he felt a stubborn refusal to accept defeat. Losing to them, it was almost like losing to Basch…

Gabranth felt a sudden surge through him just by thinking of his brother's name. No, not just think of him, he could… _see_ him.

Standing in front of Sephiroth and Laguna, there was Basch, accusing him of being part of Arcadia, the nation that destroyed their homeland. Mocking, jesting…

It was all a hallucination of course, existing as a manifestation by Gabranth's raw hatred, and his refusal to accept defeat her, but it provided him with more then enough motivation.

Simply by thinking he had the chance to strike at Basch, Gabranth felt a surge of vigor through his body, the complaints of his tired muscles had no impact on him now, he was able to easily reacquire his fighting stance, much to the evident shock of his two enemies, though Sephiroth stood still, albeit flinching slightly at the sight of Gabranth rising again.

"That will be enough, Gabranth."

Gabranth had been only seconds away from lunging at his two enemies when a familiar voice stopped him, turning around, perhaps unwisely leaving his back open to the Warriors of Cosmos, on the plain above him, was the Emperor.

"Mateus, I-"

"Your performance was good enough, Gabranth. Return to the Edge of Madness." Mateus ignored the face of anger underneath the judge's helm. Gabranth had a different role to play in the coming conflict, and now was not the time to let him die. No matter how invigorated his memories might make him, it was impossible for him to win this fight.

"Wait, I can win this! I ca-" Gabranth's words were cut off as the Emperor launched a sphere of energy at Gabranth from his scepter, connecting with Gabranth, both he and the ball of energy disappeared in a flash of energy, leaving black smoke behind as the energy blast dissipated.

"Wha-? You… killed him? He was on your side wasn't he?" Laguna felt his stomach twist, while he knew that something like that was to be expected from allies of someone like Adel, it was a feeling in him he couldn't bring himself to ignore. Gabranth had been attacked by someone he should have been able to count as an ally.

"No, that merely forcibly sent him back to the throne of Chaos." The tip of Mateus' scepter was smoldering from the sudden release of energy, even as he brought it back up to a more relaxed position. "He has his uses, even if he has his moments of defiance."

"You, as well, have your uses." The Emperor gave an extended chuckle as he recognized the look of defiance both of them had on their faces. His way of talking had a way of making others defensive, a predictable reaction of lowly insects. "Your use, however, is not here, please take your leave from Orphan's Cradle."

"Oh, spare me." Sephiroth dashed forward, swiftly leaping up toward the Emperor's level, inciting a swift response from the gold-covered figure. Teleporting away in a flash, Sephiroth's Masamune sliced through empty air, yet before the swing was finished Sephiroth was already looking around for his target, it would end up being his ears, however, not his eyes, that told him where the Emperor was.

"Emperor!" Laguna realized the presence behind him and turned in an attempt to respond with gunfire. Instead, he felt a surge of energy through his body. Before Laguna had turned around, Mateus had struck his scepter on the ground, generating a pattern under Laguna's feet, sending electricity through the Galbadian's body.

Sephiroth turned around in response to the calling of Mateus' title, and a sudden scream in Laguna's voice. Twisting around, he saw Laguna collapsing on the ground, a residual blue light fading away from the floor, and the sound of deep laughter from the Emperor.

"Now you have your reason to leave this area. Or would you rather abandon your comrade, Sephiroth? Like how Cosmos and Chaos abandon their soldiers?"

"…What do the Warriors of Chaos mean about that?" Sephiroth felt the need for the question, this was the third time someone had said something like that to him. He was loyal to Cosmos, he wouldn't let Chaos or his soldiers get under his skin, but… they had piqued his curiosity.

"Oh? So you want to learn the truth of this world, do you?" Mateus stifled his laughter, but his smile continued to exude his distinctive malice. "If you want to learn the truth about this world, and of this war, show your resolve to seek the truth in the coming battles." Mateus returned to his laughter as Sephiroth's face flinched in disgust at the Emperor's confidence and mocking tone.

With his laughter continuing, the Emperor faded out in purple smoke, his voice echoing throughout the surreal environment of Orphan's Cradle. The voice slowly died down as Sephiroth jumped down to the ground level with Laguna's unconscious body. With a sigh escaping him, he hoisted Laguna up to his shoulder and began moving back up to the entrance of the Cradle.

* * *

"Foolish worms!" Exdeath fired a blast of white energy from his hands, which was swiftly negated by Shantotto's Wall. Far stronger then most other Walls, but it took only a little concentration for Exdeath to break it, surging another mass of white energy in his hands, Exdeath fired another blast, this one much bigger, and rather then collide and explode when striking Shantotto's barrier, it pushed against it, until eventually a crack appeared, and in a moment the Wall was shattered, and the white mass of energy struck Shantotto head on.

With his short friend thrown back by the blast, Richard dashed forward with his spear, generating only the slightest acknowledgement from Exdeath. With a sudden upward swing of his left arm, a large symbol appeared in the air, with undecipherable spell names and letters across it, the symbol acted as a shield, with Richard's attempt to break through it failing utterly, with his spear being repelled by the two-dimensional object, and it responded with a blast of energy from it's middle core, sending Richard flying backwards.

Exdeath disengaged the symbol and relaxed his stance, letting a laugh escape him as he saw both of his enemies starting to stand back up. These two were wastes of life, the Void was where they rightfully belonged, just like all life.

Shantotto let loose with another spell, dual-casting Meteor and Gravity, Exdeath felt a tug on his body that was trying to drag him to the ground, even as he saw a red rock phasing into existence above him. The tug barely effecting him, Exdeath raised his hands and disappeared in blue light, reappearing directly behind Shantotto, he raised his sword just as Shantotto turned around, but he paused for a moment when he noticed that her face was smug, rather then fearful. Raising his gaze above her, he found a spear only inches away from his helm, quickly jumping back, he avoided the swing of the spear, only for a red light to appear on the bottom edge of his vision. Glancing down, he saw a blast of Flare escaping Shantotto's staff and flying straight torward him… at a speed he couldn't possibly react to. He felt heat beyond any fire encircling and incinerating him, yet that wasn't enough to stop him, lunging forward, he planned to kill Shantotto before she could fire another spell, only to be stopped by Richard, with a spear coming toward him, Exdeath jumped back, but not enough, and Richard's Blood Spear sank deep across his chest, leaving clear damage in the armor, before he twisted around and struck another blow, this one vertical, across his chest.

Exdeath teleported off in blue light, several meters away from the two, with a moderate blow to his bravado. Yet his confidence was still there, twirling his sword to it's proper position, he placed his hand on the hilt as he prepared to continue the battle.

"You two shall be nothing more then drifting shells in the Void."

* * *

Garland found himself walking alone, the Emperor had just taken care of business in this location, Orphan's Cradle. The signs of battle were evident, with signs of slash damage across the floor, and spent bullets everywhere, yet they paled in comparison to the blast damage and mangled groundwork across the Cradle. Amusingly, the Cradle was actually in much better condition then Garland remembered it, from last time.

Yes, from last time.

Garland let out a small "heh" as he paced forward, recalling a battle from a previous cycle. A battle that took place right here, in Orphan's Cradle.

"It's been a while hasn't it… Barthandelus?" Garland shut his eyes, recalling the decisive battle of the last cycle…


	7. Flashback and Foreshadowing

**And so we continue. This chapter was pretty fun to write, and I set up a few future story points.**

**As always, read and review.**

**Disclaimer: I own nuttin'.**

_

* * *

_

_Garland moved forward with a firm grip on the handle of his adaptable weapon. Before him was a woman, her name was Oerba Yun Fang, and she was trying to resist Garland, but she was failing, badly. Her lance had been snapped in two by Garland's sword, and with the front end of the weapon in her arms, her stance made it obvious she had no real experience with a weapon of that size._

_Behind Garland, a figure clothed in white and purple garments stood with a staff in hand. He had done nothing during the entire battle, merely shaking his head in exasperation at Fang's pitiful display against Garland. Truly… was this the one he wanted to become Ragnarok?_

_While he was thinking, Fang charged forward, but with a weapon of unfamiliar size she made only one pitiful slice at him before an armored fist flew straight in her face. She staggered a few steps back from the force to her skull before toppling onto her back, she had fought the knight almost evenly until he had managed to strike her lance right in it's middle, but now… now her chances of victory were nothing. If only she had known about the shape-shifting nature of Garland's weapon beforehand, she was sure she could have won if she had known that._

"_Humph… what an unfulfilling battle." Garland loosened his stance as Fang tried, desperately, to get back on her feet, he didn't know how precisely how much pressure he had struck her face with, but it was apparently enough that the pain coursing through her body was distracting her from trying to stand up._

_Garland quietly stood in place as the other man with him walked forward until he was right beside the woman so utterly bested by Garland. She had become an almost pitiable construction, in the War of Transgression in their world she had shown herself to have worth, but now…_

"_I have no use for a flawed l'Cie." The man, Galenth Dysley, or more accurately, the Fal'Cie Barthandelus, scowled and walked past her, a pity, she used to be the tool with the most potential, but now…_

_His thinking was cut short when he sensed something coming at him from above. Casting a sudden look above him, he saw only the gleam of light reflecting off of metal before he jumped several feet back, narrowly dodging a sword slicing into the floor. With a small moment to catch his breath, he witnessed the identity of the one wielding the blade._

"_Zack?" Barthandelus' expression was utter shock, the complete opposite of what Garland felt, a feeling of amusement, and the desire for a true fight to the death._

"_Impossible. Yunalesca was supposed to dispose of you." Barthandelus regained the composure in his words, reviewing Zack carefully, probing for any un-guarded sides, yet he could see nothing of the sort, not past his giant sword._

"_Oh, that woman? She's off in la-la land now." Zack let a smile of confidence creep across his face as Barthandelus and Garland acknowledged Yunalesca's failure to terminate the reckless youth._

_They also acknowledged another person approaching Zack and Fang from behind._

_Auron, who had many personal issues with Yunalesca, slowly walked in until he was beside Fang, on the opposite side of her that Zack was on. Casually reaching toward his back, he pulled a lance out and offered the handle to Fang._

"_Don't lose it this time." Auron, even through this slightly sarcastic statement, had no smile on him as Fang reached out and curled her fingers around the long handle of the lance. With his grip letting up, Auron instead moved his hand toward his own sword._

_Fang immediately jammed the blade of her lance into the ground and began to push down, offering a leverage to get her back on her feet. With backup, and a new lance, Fang was ready for round two._

_Barthandelus let out a sigh at the new resistance, just when he thought the war was coming to an end, partaking in these battles was just as meaningless as watching over Cocoon. Raising his head, he saw a familiar owl fluttering in the air above him, and it proceeded to dive-bomb down to him, with empty feelings, Barthandelus raised his staff until a glow appeared off the top of it, the owl flew straight into the glow, igniting a blinding light that covered all of Orphan's Cradle._

"_If peace and an ideal future is what you seek, you will not resist!" The light died away, leaving a massive monstrosity behind, the true form of Barthandelus, in this rear area of Orphan's Cradle, it took up the whole back of the room, with Garland casually standing behind Barthandelus._

_Slowly walking forward, Garland positioned himself to the side of Barthandelus' face, with weapon in hand he faced his opposition, the Warriors of Cosmos stood at the ready, having a slight numbers advantage, though it seemed negated by Barthandelus massive size._

_Hunching down to his familiar battle-stance, Garland had to stifle a laugh, Barthandelus truly believed that this battle had true significance. It was merely a footnote in the eternal cycle of conflicts, all battles and wars for Cosmos and Chaos were done with one reason, to turn Chaos into the ultimate weapon._

_Without hesitation, Garland lunged forward as blasts of light soared from Barthandelus as the Warriors of Cosmos responded with equal force…_

Garland opened his eyes. He was not in the same area of Orphan's Cradle that that fight had occurred that. It was further in, the place where the decisive battle of the last cycle had taken place at.

* * *

The Warriors of Chaos had won that day, though at the end of it all, only Garland was standing, Barthandelus being defeated partway through the battle, it didn't change the fact that all fighters, bar Garland, were cast down to the empty hell where broken warriors battled each other for the right to fight in another cycle. With the exception of Garland, it was fate for all warriors, regardless of their god, to be dropped into that misery, into that unknowing abyss. No one actually knew that they had been tossed aside, no one in that hell knew what was truly going on.

Garland chuckled softly as he recalled how Barthandelus handled the planning and operation of the last cycle. Now, Emperor Mateus was the mastermind behind the offense of the Chaos Warriors. Unlike Barthandelus, Mateus knew of the cycle of conflict, though even he was unaware of the reason it existed, unaware of Cid of the Lufaine.

* * *

Gabranth struggled to move, he had been forced to re-connect his two swords together into a double-sided weapon and use it as a crutch. He was thankful to be alone here, at the throne of Chaos. The last thing he needed was to be mocked by his fellow Warriors of Chaos, none of the others had been battered so utterly in a fight against the Warriors of Cosmos, though he could take some comfort in the fact that the Emperor had declared Sephiroth the most dangerous of Cosmos' pawns.

He was slightly confused about Mateus' constant use of the word "pawn", though. He didn't pretend to know what went through that man's head, he made Vayne look simple-minded.

Gabranth was sometimes slightly tense at the Edge of Madness, lava dripped from the clouds above him, it was worrisome that the area he was standing on might have the direct sky above it begin dripping lava. A certain feeling of tension welled up in him, only to disperse when something else caught his eye.

A girl.

He hadn't noticed her at first, but right in front of Chaos' throne, there was a girl, a young woman. She was lying down, unconscious, or simply asleep. Her face was strained, as if she had been in pain recently, yet besides her face she seemed to lay peacefully.

With a small groan of pain, Gabranth used his weapon-turned-crutch to move up to her and then crouch down on his knees, enough to notice a strange ornament on her head. A black strand encircling her upper temple, a head-band of some sort? Gabranth, though his helm, gazed at the band on her hand for a moment before he slowly began to, perhaps without even realizing it, reach out his hand toward the alien ornament, his armored fingers were only a few centimeters away from it before a voice suddenly cried out.

"Don't touch that!"

Gabranth's hand flinched back at the sound of the scream, turning his head, he saw Kefka glaring at him, the glint of the clown's eye was completely murderous, but that was not out of the ordinary for Kefka. Yet the focused glare was more relentless then it usually was, the giant painted smile did not hide the scowl of the clown.

"That's my toy! You can't play with it!" Kefka moved forward, seemingly merely approaching this girl, his "toy", had thoroughly angered him, he had none of his usual bounce of flair in his steps, instead walking in a way more comparable to a normal person. He continued to move until he was right by the girl, then came to a halt.

"My lovely little Esper-girl… you've been napping long enough!" Kefka swiftly kicked the girl in her gut, triggering a sudden gasp out of her as her eyes opened. For a moment her expression was empty and unchanging, until Kefka struck her again. This time his boot went across her face, knocking her over onto her other side, her face came to a halt right on Gabranth's knee.

"What are you waiting for? Transform! We've got some destruction on the to-do list!" Kefka grabbed the girl by her shoulder and hoisted her up, before letting electricity flow through her fingers.

The girl reacted as the electrical energy passed through the clown's hand and into her body, with a scream, a white bubble began to emanate off of her, the bubble expanded until finally it burst open, covering the field of the Edge of Madness, throwing both Kefka and Gabranth away.

Kefka only flew a few feet back before he managed to regain control of himself and stop his movement in mid-air. Gabranth, having no flight control, was sent flying straight into Chaos' throne, his back painfully colliding with the throne's armrest before he was deposited onto the ramped ground in front of the throne.

After reacting to the pain for a moment, Gabranth saw a strange humanoid creature between him and Kefka. The figure was clearly the Esper-girl that Kefka babbled about, Terra. He had a few words to say to Kefka about what just happened, however…

"Was it really necessary, or fair, to beat her like that?" Gabranth couldn't even stand, with his weapon several meters to his left, only managing to pathetically lift himself off the ground with quivering arms. "She's fighting for you, shouldn't you be able to treat a soldier of yours better?"

"Oh, shut up!" Kefka shot a glare at the crippled knight that was complaining about _ethnics_ in regards to how he treated the Esper. "With the slave crown on her, she'll do whatever I tell her to. I can treat her however I want!"

_Slave Crown_. So that's what it's called… Gabranth managed to raise an arm up onto the armrest of Chaos' throne to pull himself up. To… judge by the name, the only reason she was obedient to Kefka was the band around her head, though it disappeared when she transformed like that.

Terra and Kefka had begun to walk off, making Gabranth briefly wonder if they had received an order to begin a mission. No, that clown was always completely defiant of order and authority, more likely he was trying to antagonize someone from either, or perhaps both sides, purely for the hell of it.

Gabranth's inner-discussion about what Kefka was planning, was cut off as he saw a familiar regally dressed cold figure fade into existence before him…

* * *

Exdeath staggered back in response to a blast of Freeze from Shantotto that had struck him when he was focusing on Richard. Thoroughly angered, Exdeath commanded his sword engage Shantotto, flying in her direction, Exdeath only saw the first swing of the weapon before he turned around to restore his focus on Richard… only to not see him anywhere.

Normally he would cast his sight to the left and right when presented with this situation, but with a Dragoon, there was only one place they could be when they were out of sight. Arcing his head up, Exdeath saw Richard bearing down on him with the Blood Spear, but Exdeath had realized what he was trying to do too early. Merely jumping back, Richard's spear uselessly struck the road they were standing on, and his attempt to strike the distracted Exdeath was rewarded with a blast of white energy coming out of Exdeath's palm and into Richard's chest.

Richard flew backwards, away from Exdeath, who glided forward in an attempt to press his advantage, but was stopped by a sudden flurry of lightning passing in front of him. Turning his head back, he saw Shantotto still engaged in a fight against his sword, the electrical frenzy seemed to have been an attack from her that missed it's mark. It had been enough for Richard to regain his bearings. Exdeath turned back to the front just in time to see a spear coming down on him, easily grazing a blow against his chest, but doing no significant damage. The response to the blow was the creation of a tornado around Exdeath, with the sudden movement of the wind, Richard was easily sucked in and his armor began to strain to hold itself together against the violent air.

The tornado existed for only a few moments, but the time must have been agonizingly long for Richard, until finally, with one last force of will, the tornado threw Richard away across from Exdeath.

Exdeath wanted a new tactic to strike Richard with, otherwise risk adopting a predictable style of fighting. Raising his arm up, he closed his hand around the hilt of the sword that had dedicated itself to fighting Shantotto for some time now. He took notice that the middle part of the blade had been thoroughly singed, most likely by a Flare spell.

He didn't start an offense against Richard immediately, however, he knew exactly how Shantotto would respond to the disappearance of the enemy she was engaged to. Moving to the left, Exdeath felt a chill as a sudden blast of icicles flew past him. Exdeath lightly chuckled and fired a blast of white energy back toward Shantotto as he turned his attentions to Richard. Not just the typical energy, of course, that particular blast had a special suprise for the mage...

* * *

Sephiroth found himself back at Order's Sanctuary, the unconscious Laguna laid out across the white marble ground of Cosmos' Throne. Laguna no longer had a painful grimace to his face, yet even when Laguna was clearly in pain, albeit unconscious, Sephiroth's mind had been elsewhere.

_If you want to learn the truth about this world, and of this war, show your resolve to seek the truth in the coming battles._

A frown appeared on Sephiroth's normally empty features as he reflected upon Mateus' words. Hiding the truth… he wouldn't expect that of Cosmos. It wasn't unheard of in SOLDIER, considering what Shinra tended to be like. He was still feeling uncomfortable, a small feeling building up in his gut…

"Are you troubled, Sephiroth?"

A bright flash of light appeared, and from behind him, Cosmos came into view, electing only a look over the shoulder of Sephiroth. Yet the look on his face must of given Cosmos a general idea of what had happened.

"One of the Warriors of Chaos said something to you?" Cosmos' face remained even and calm, somewhat like Sephiroth's own, though hers had a certain flash of regality that was absent from the SOLDIER.

"On three separate occasions, the Warriors of Chaos have told me that there is more to this conflict then what you've told me." Sephiroth took his eyes off Cosmos, but did manage to see her open her mouth like she wanted to say something, but disengaged from doing so. Once again, Sephiroth felt a slight ting of curiosity, but let it go for the moment.

"Normally I would simply brush it off as an attempt to antagonize me, but the look in the Emperor's eyes leads me to believe that he does, truly, know something I don't."

Cosmos looked away, another thing Sephiroth took note of, the feeling in his gut grew as Cosmos silently gave him reason to consider the words of the Warriors of Chaos…

* * *

**Jecht, Galuf, and Adel will return in the next chapter.**


	8. Seeds of Doubt

**Here we go. Moving on.**

**Not sure how long this series will go for, but expect some big revelations in the near future. Definitely not in the next chapter, but in the near future.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

"Em…Emperor Mateus!" Gabranth struggled with his words, barely able to keep himself from lying prone on the ground, for once he could agree that he was effectively an insect compared to Mateus, in the current state, at least. If he was fully healed, however…

"Why did you stop me from fighting them!" Gabranth clumsily held his double-sided weapon in his hand, but could barely lift it up off the ground, he couldn't even point it in the Emperor's general direction. His attempt at threatening him, no matter how pathetic, resulted in Mateus' lips curling in amusement.

"It was simply not in accordance with my plan that someone should die there." Mateus tilted his head with a face of amusement as a low growl was heard from behind the Magister's helm.

"It's not like you would have won if the fight had continued. I know everything about every combatant, you couldn't fight Sephiroth by yourself, and yet you deluded yourself into thinking that you could handle him and another at the same time."

Mateus took several steps forward until he was about a step and a half away from Gabranth, even broken down like he was, he was refusing to accept that he would have lost the battle. It gave Mateus a certain pleasure, because it gave him a chance to get under Gabranth's skin.

"Oh yes, I know everything about you as well, Gabranth. Or do you prefer to be called… Noah?" Mateus' grin grew even larger as Gabranth flinched at the mention of his original name, a name that filled the Judge with an endless shame.

"Don't… don't use that name to address me." Gabranth's choice of words were defiant, but his tone had lost the fire and punch in them. Noah was… Noah didn't exist after the Republic of Landis, he didn't _deserve_ to exist. Gabranth was all that was left.

It was… worrisome… that Mateus knew the name, if he truly did know everything about every combatant, he could break anyone he wanted to break in this conflict, except perhaps Garland. Still, if he knew about the name Noah, then chances are he knew about his relationship with his brother, his status in the Arcadian Empire, and his vow to honor Gramis' order to protect…

Gabranth shook his head, the young prince had no need to be relevant in this world, in the war between Harmony and Disorder.

"If you're done reflecting upon your past, you must prepare for a new assignment." Mateus struck the bottom of his scepter upon the ground, generating a green aura around Gabranth. At first he flinched, seemingly expecting it to be an attack of some sort, yet after a moment his fatigued and battered bones began to loosen and felt like they were being rejuvenated. Calming his body down he allowed the green energy to surge through him until he was completely refreshed.

Calmly grabbing his weapon, Gabranth brought himself to a stand of attention in front of the Emperor.

* * *

Shantotto easily dodged the blast of white energy that had come flying toward her and attempted to turn her attention on Exdeath, who was completely preoccupied with Richard.

"Turn your back on me? I'll see to it that you'll turn tail and fl-" Shantotto cut herself off as she caught sight of a small peculiarity on her staff. The last spell she had used was the Flare blast she attacked Exdeath's sword with, but rather then have the glass of the tip of the staff be red in color, the core of it was white. Only the core, the border remained red…

Shantotto's eyes widened in awareness of what the white core was and jumped to the left, just as the blast of white energy flew and only marginally missed her. The white core on her staff had been a reflection of the white energy, if she hadn't randomly noticed the reflection she would have been mercilessly struck from behind.

Shantotto kept her eyes square on the energy as it turned around again to focus it's aim on her. With her staff in hand, she was stuck dealing with Exdeath's projectile, and couldn't assist Richard against Exdeath.

Richard was faring rather poorly, Exdeath was keenly demonstrating himself as a master of defensive tactics. Every thrust of his spear was countered with a strange wall of symbols In front of Exdeath, all of which were immediately followed by rapid telekinetic sword swipes, or a massive tornado, or a flurry of blasts of white energy. Richard, last of the Dragoons, could be called inexhaustible, but even he was feeling the strain of being attacked again and again and being unable to properly counterattack.

If he couldn't find a weak point of some sort, defeat would be inevitable. Unavoidable.

* * *

"Hmm? Where-" Laguna began to pick himself up off the marble base of Cosmos' Throne in Order's Sanctuary, a quick glance around made it quite clear that Sephiroth was no where nearby. Instead, the only person he saw was none other then his leader through all this.

"Cosmos!" The goddess made almost no response when Laguna called her name out, though she did briefly turn her head, not enough to see behind her, but enough that Laguna could see that his words had been heard.

"Where's Sephiroth?" Laguna had gotten to his feet and already marched over to the goddess, who was beginning to turn around to more properly address him.

"Sephiroth choose to continue on by himself. I believe he did it to protect you, or perhaps draw the Warriors of Chaos away from everyone else at the sight of a simple target." Cosmos' eyes displayed a heavy sadness, but Laguna seemed to fail to catch wind of it, even as she minutely dipped her head forward.

"What? Which direction did he go? Where is he know? He should have a traveling partner!"

"I'm sorry Laguna, that is not so simple." Cosmos witnessed the face of shock and alarm on Laguna's face, it ate away at her gut, to expend so much emotion for the cycle, and never know the arbitrary nature of the war. "In this world, a person's path and where he walks are not the same. The threads of Discord have eaten away at such absolutes, it is the reason why Chaos must be stopped."

Cosmos wished to be free, but she couldn't go against the order of Shinryu, the divine dragon that would always resurrect either her or Cosmos. The dragon had told her that the cycle must continue for Chaos to reach his "ultimate state".

If only she, and the world, could look fate in the eye and simply say "no".

* * *

Adel was being pushed back by the aggression of Jecht and Galuf. Amazing tenacity beyond what the people of Esthar had been capable of. If it weren't for the fact that she planned to mount their heads on pikes she might have been impressed by them. Yet still, she was a Sorceress, the savage hordes could only flee in terror before her.

With a swing of her left arm in front of her, she created a wall that repelled a sudden assault from Jecht. The wall then begun to expand, depriving Jecht and Galuf of room to dodge, choking the space of the landing pad they were on. The wall continued to expand, until Jecht and Galuf were shoved right onto the edge of the landing pad, it gave Adel a surge of glee, sadistic urges weren't hard to sate if you knew what you were doing. She allowed the wall to expand, and in moments the two would be falling down until they became horrific stains upon the roads hundreds of feet beneath them.

Then… Adel cried out. A feeling of pain moved through her body, immobilizing her offense, and negating the very existence of the wall she was using to torment her opponents. It all occurred just as she felt something strike her from behind, she turned around, forgetting all about the two men she had been attacking, and what should she find herself staring at but…

Kefka.

Standing on top of a spire that stretched above the landing pad, the mad clown had a finger pointed straight at her with small bits of blue energy coming off of it. It was obvious that he had attacked her.

Hovering to Kefka's left, floating above nothing, was Terra, the Esper-girl. In her white-ish blue form, her face had that same mad expression she always did when she was with Kefka, it always seemed like she was just a step away from cruelly butchering whatever was right next to her. She probably was.

"Kefka? What do you think you're doing? Is _this_ part of the Emperor's plan?"

"The Emperor? Hey, who cares about him!" Kefka let out a shrill cackle as Terra continued to posture aggressively and Adel began to gather magical energy in her arms.

"It just so happens that my dear little toy didn't like your bad-mouthing earlier, Adel. That's all." Kefka pointed a finger at Adel, inciting Terra to charge at the Sorceress. With the Esper power sealed inside her, Terra was able to deflect the first few waves of white energy fired from Adel simply by flying through them, generating another laugh from Kefka as he watched and witnessed the power his toy possessed. As long as he had her under his heel, only Garland and Chaos were threats or concerns for the jester.

Hopping down from his perch and began sailing towards the battlefield, he made a mistake in ignoring who Adel had been fighting before he intervened. An error he was painfully told of by a thin metal sword slashing across his chest. Kefka's landing on the pad was heavily disoriented, even as Galuf leaned back and allowed gravity to bring him back to the landing pad.

Kefka found himself stuck in an uncomfortable position between Jecht and the now landed Galuf. His toy, on the other hand, was busy with Adel. Though she was clearly in a much better position then he was, fighting only one opponent, and a magical one, which was very easy to negate if you had Esper genes in you.

Kefka's face gave way to a smile beyond the simple face-paint as Jecht began an advance on him, Kefka generated a blue-ish orb in his hands as the over glorified surfer raised his sword on him.

Swiftly jumping to the side, Jecht's sword failed to hit Kefka and instead slammed into the ground, leaving a clear crack in it. Taking less then a second to process the failed attack, Jecht raised his head to see a hovering orb in front of his face.

Being able to react on instinct has it's advantages, and Jecht already had his sword up, shielding him long before his mind recognized that the sphere was going to explode.

Which it, of course, did. The sphere expanded into multiple blue explosions, the magical blasts tested the strength of Jecht's sword, but ultimately failed to break it, even though it scraped Jecht himself back several feet. As he took the sword down to a ready position, Kefka only continued to smile, but his glee was broken when he heard the sound of Galuf coming at him from behind.

Turning to face the old man, Kefka generated a surge of electricity, wrapping itself around his hand, it was like Kefka's hand had become a conductor. As Galuf began to bring his sword across, Kefka thrust his hand out to discharge the electricity, creating an explosion that completely obscured both combatants.

* * *

Sephiroth was pacing slowly through Zanarkand, he had determined it to be for the best to continue alone. He doubted any of the other Warriors of Cosmos could keep up with him in the first place, none of them were soldiers like him, and… he needed to be alone with my thoughts.

The Warriors of Chaos acted like they knew something about the war he didn't, and Cosmos seemed to have to restrain herself from saying something. He had not yet found anything he could truly make something of, but he had a seed of doubt sprouting in his heart…

His pupils stared unwaveringly forward, but then moved toward the right as a sudden explosion sounded off in the distance. A fight was underway here in Zanarkand, and, seeing as there had to be a Warrior of Cosmos involved, he was compelled to investigate…

…and intervene.


	9. Call to Arms

**This was... a bit trickier to write then I thought it would be. I began this chapter with a general idea of what I wanted it to include, but for whatever reason it took a bit of probing to fina da way for it to really work.**

**Ah, continuing the story, as we lead to the next few chapters.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

* * *

"So the war so far has gone as you would have wanted…" Chaos reclined on his throne, both the Emperor and Garland before him. The two gods rarely took part in the cycles themselves, only stepping in at the end when their warriors were beaten. Though they felt inclined to guide the warriors who lost their way…

"Yes, the Warriors of Cosmos doubtlessly think they're pushing us back, but every triumph they make, and every triumph they will make, will be made because I want them to be made." Emperor Mateus exuded an aura that was partially smug, and partially calm, and wholly fearsome.

Garland stood attentively, slightly agitated by the lack of combat he had taken part in. Yet he had his duty to craft Chaos into a weapon that could strike down the combined might of all worlds. It was his role to see to it that the Warriors of Chaos won, or came as close to winning as possible, in every cycle, as such he was bound to follow the orders of the one handling the tactics of the Chaos Warriors.

Even so, Emperor Mateus was a definite improvement over Barthandelus. The Fal'Cie had forbidden Garland any direct hand in combat until the very end of the last cycle, where he easily killed Scott, the prince of Fynn, and had a much more enjoyable battle against Fang, Zack, and Auron.

Smiling under his mask as he recalled Barthandelus' death, of having Auron's sword stabbed through his forehead and deeper in, Garland slightly began to space out, becoming oblivious to the conversation between Mateus and Chaos.

"Yet if we are to be practical in terms of winning, it would be to our benefit to strengthen our numbers without alerting Cosmos." Mateus resisted the urge to give into a smirk, knowing full well that his suggestion would be heeded by the god of Discord. It was true that Chaos himself was his far superior in power, and the victor of a battle between them would have little doubt to his identity, but god or not, he could be led.

"I see, and you are suggesting…?" Chaos titled his head skeptically, not fully understanding what the Emperor was trying to imply.

"Many of us once commanded armies and nations in our own worlds, merely allow us to command them in this world by allowing us to commune to our worlds and we shall raise an army unlike any world has ever known."

Chaos pulled his head back to a perfectly up-right position and gave a nod of approval to Mateus' suggestion as a wave of red energy, the power of Discord, began to emanate off of him, preparing to rip the walls between this world and the others apart to summon a true army of Discord.

"Garland." Emperor Mateus turned towards the knight, who stood motionless for a moment before shaking his head and turning his attention towards the Emperor. "You and Gabranth are to retrieve our agents from the field, we must be re-grouped for the coming armies."

Garland stared blankly at Mateus for a moment, but then turned to leave the Edge of Madness with Gabranth. Armies… Garland didn't see a need for them.

With Garland gone, Mateus turned back toward Chaos, his face remaining calm, but the sign of a smile beginning to appear. "Chaos, there is one other thing I'd like to talk to you about."

* * *

Exdeath felt a jolt of pain through him as he mistimed one of his magical shields and felt Richard's spear going straight into his abdomen. His armor was strong enough to withstand it, but he still felt it painfully push into him and be knocked off his feet, it did nothing to truly change the flow of battle, though. Exdeath swiftly disappeared in a flash of blue light, and then reappeared back on his feet, across from Richard.

Richard tightened his grip on his spear, the handle was feeling increasingly loose, because of sweat, he realized. Exdeath was a terrifying opponent, he could only imagine what the evil knight's origin was.

If he learned that Exdeath was originally a tree, he might die laughing.

Richard charged again, heading straight for Exdeath, but suddenly feinted to the left as Exdeath created another shield to block him, Exdeath's helm moved to follow Richard's movement, but he could not disengage his shield fast enough. Thoroughly frustrated by this turn of events, Exdeath could only watch as Richard scarred his neck with his spear. Again, it wasn't strong enough to actually pierce the armor, but enough to clearly discomfort the warlock knight as he took a step back from the slash.

The two sudden blows to Exdeath had a clear effect on the projectile that was chasing after Shantotto, pausing at first, then contorting in an unnatural way, it finally gave Shantotto a chance to negate the attack.

"Wall!" At her command, the crystal on the end of her staff turned green as a similarly green wall appeared in front of her. She had attempted the same tactic earlier, but the blast had simply broken through it, but with the blast seeming to get weaker, there was a chance this could work.

The white blast struck against the wall, and rather then tear through it effortlessly like last time, it now clearly strained against the barricade. It wasn't to be tamed so easily, however, as the Wall she created began to crack like glass, unfortunate, considering she was standing right beside the Wall, fortunate, as the white energy started to destabilize against the protective spell. If the wall could hold out a little longer… just a little longer…

Alas.

The Wall splintered, leaving the white blast of energy heading straight for Shantotto, and she was in no position to move, she had spent more energy then was necessary creating the Wall. All she could do was throw her arms in front of her face in protection and hope that the blast wouldn't do too much damage.

The blast never came.

After several seconds, Shantotto put her arms down in curiosity, the blast that could have left her in critical condition was gone. Immediately she began to scan her surroundings, there was no sign of the blast anywhere, yet there was nothing, like she had been fighting thin air all this time, before she could begin any speculation, a roar pierced through the air.

Turning around to the direction the scream came from, she saw Richard, standing in a battle posture, and Exdeath, the position of his body anything but normal, contorting in a painful fashion, above all, there was a third figure there…

Sephiroth.

The scream had come from the Masamune striking down Exdeath's back, the tear in the knight's cape was clearly visible. Shantotto couldn't have known at the time, but the reason the blast of energy disappeared was because Exdeath had been too damaged to continue to maintain it, while he had been fighting Richard, the blast's existence had been tied to the warlock knight's state of mind. With his composure broken, so was the blast.

Exdeath's scream came to a sudden halt as he hunched down to a kneeling position, bits of purple smoke emanated off of him, but it was no early sign for a teleportation. After just a fraction of a moment, Exdeath was on the offensive, the purple smoke warped to a crimson red and shot in all directions away from Exdeath, provoking the need for an immediate response from all three Warriors of Cosmos.

Sephiroth simply jumped and weaved through the spheres of fire that attempted to end his life, not a single orb of flame touched him or his sword. Richard was not quite as nimble, but it was to his fortune that the Blood Spear was a weapon magical in nature, the spear itself could simply deflect the blasts of fire, as his sudden twirls of the weapon showed, the Dragoon was an attentive and adaptable fighter, and every blast of flame either missed him, or was thrown aside by the spear. Shantotto was to have the easiest time with Exdeath's offense, the simple creation of another Wall saw to it that the few blasts that went directly towards her were easily negated.

The balls of fire had at least forced them to distance themselves from Exdeath, who was already standing again, his stance exhibited no signs of fatigue or pain, the effects of Sephiroth's earlier attack seemingly already gone. Though the movement of his hands blatantly showed a rage growing in him over the surprise attack he was on the receiving end against. Any thoughts of a counterattack from him was to be put on hold, however.

"Exdeath!" Exdeath had just been about to renew an offense when his voice was let loose across the battlefield. The voice was familiar, and the familiarity was the only reason Exdeath paused at the sound of it. It was the voice of an ally, not so much an _ally_ as much as a temporary vassal in this conflict, Gabranth.

"The Emperor has bid your return." Gabranth was standing across from Exdeath, he had come from behind Shantotto. The Tarutaru was not of interest to him, casually walking past her, keeping his attention more focused on Sephiroth and Richard, two that seemed much more threatening then the mage.

Exdeath tensed up, he was still filled with anger from Sephiroth's ambush, but even with the face obscured through the helm, Exdeath could tell that Gabranth was speaking of a real order from the Emperor. The man was… unpleasant, when his orders were not followed. Relenting his tension, Exdeath forcefully turned his back toward the scene and faded out of sight.

"The Emperor wanted him back? I take it he wasn't trying to save us." Richard trained his eyes, and his spear, on Gabranth. He didn't know Gabranth personally, but he was part of an Empire, and his… past experiences, left him defensive in the presence of anyone associated with an Empire.

Gabranth paid no mind to the Dragoon, simply turning around to leave, to the agitation of the Dragoon, who felt great disdain for being treated more of a bother then a proper adversary. Bahamut knows he's killed hundreds of Imperial Soldiers in battles around Deist. Until the end of it all came…

Oddly, no one made the slightest attempt to chase after Gabranth, though Sephiroth kept his eyes focused on the Chaos Warrior, even as he began to fade out of existence before them, it was unlikely they could have prevented an escape of some sort if they had tried to attack him…

"I'm glad you showed up." Richard extended a hand out to Sephiroth after both had put their weapons away, Richard simply putting his spear on the hinge on his back, and Sephiroth's weapon disappearing in a flash of energy. Sephiroth did not return the gesture, simply eyeing Richard for a moment before turning away and beginning to walk off.

"Hey, do you mean to go off by yourself?" Richard's voice registered on Sephiroth, bringing his movements to a halt, and turning back towards Richard.

"I assure you, no one can keep up with me, and I'll make better time and progress if I have only myself to worry about." Sephiroth turned back forward and continued to walk off, if Richard and Shantotto were to say anything further at this point, it would be wasted breath. He continued walking… well out of sight of both of them.

"Running off by himself… he's making a big mistake." Richard rubbed his palm against the metal of the helm that covered his forehead, Zanarkand was a fairly cool city, the metal was cold, cold in a soothing and calming way, rather then the searing heat he usually felt back in Deist.

"That's his decision, isn't it? If it's a mistake, it's only him that's going to get bit." Shantotto had already managed to get right beside Richard despite not making any noise during her approach. Her words had a certain wisdom, albeit cold, even if it was made with another obnoxious rhyme.

* * *

Adel deflected a blast of Thundaga from Terra before lunging at her, blasts of Fira coming off of her hands. The attack was simple, grab Terra's skin and let the bursts of Fira leave horrid burn marks on them. She was probably unaware of the punishment she would receive if she did any permanent damage to a fellow Chaos Warrior, though it would pale compared to the punishment Kefka would receive if Adel was grievously injured, seeing as he was the one who attacked Adel without authorization from anyone else.

As she lunged toward Terra, Adel took a quick look over her shoulder behind her, and gave a faint smile as she saw Jecht strike Kefka with the flat side of his sword. She saw, recognized, and became amused by the sight in less then a second, but it still gave Terra enough of an opening, as Adel turned her head straight only for a blast of Blizzara to strike her dead-on. Her momentum shifted to the reverse as the blast tossed her back from her intended target, thrown through the air several feet, before landing unevenly on her feet across from the Esper. Her earlier smile had already changed to a bloodthirsty scowl at Terra, if looks could kill, Kefka's toy would have dropped dead at the sight of it…

Kefka found himself flying through the air, he had earlier been hit off his feet by the flat end of Jecht's sword, then another strike sent him flying, it took a moment to regain control of himself, but one of the joys of being attuned to magic, or rather, magacite, was that he could easily adapt to a situation like this. Stretching his arms out he halted his movement in mid-air, a… tactical error on his part, as he had flown barely two meters, and Galuf was already on him with his sword. Flailing pathetically for a moment, Kefka moved back just enough to prevent the sword, still empowered by Adel's magic, from hitting him, though he also fell clumsily to the ground, something that would have undoubtedly hinder his movement.

He saw Galuf above him, with the sword already coming down, though the intended attack wouldn't be completed, as a much bigger sword got in the way. A _much_ bigger sword.

Kefka hadn't noticed… perhaps he had teleported in? There was a familiar knight now standing behind him, with a familiar adaptable weapon. Garland.

"You shouldn't have done this, Kefka. You may have to pay a price soon." Garland turned his head toward Kefka, ignoring the presence of Galuf and Jecht in front of him, which was not a tactical mistake, as could be seen easily when Galuf tried to charge, only for Garland's blunted sword to go across his gut, knocking him to the ground.

"Call off the Esper and return to the Edge of Madness." Garland lightly struck Kefka on the back of the head with a steel palm. Enough to make Kefka bend to the orders, but…"

"Hey, Adel doesn't get mistreated?"

"Adel was not the one who attacked a colleague without authorization. Consider that."

Kefka gave an exaggerated scowl as he began to teleport off, Terra saw what he was doing and began to teleport as well, complicated somewhat by the fact that Adel was still attacking her. A blast of Thundaga singed her side before she faded away completely.

"If they're gone… let's enjoy these two before I kill Kefka." Adel regained a small amount of composure to her face as she began a movement toward Galuf and Jecht, only to be stopped when Garland suddenly appeared to her left and grabbed her by her wrist.

"All agents in the field are being retrieved. That includes you, Adel. Return to the Edge of Madness immediately." Garland released his grip on Adel's wrist, but still saw the Sorceress' face contort in disgust. Her face went back to normal after a sudden glare from Garland, only Chaos and Mateus weren't intimidated on some level by the threat of Garland's rage. Giving a frustrated sigh, Adel's body began to dissipate, the same way they all did when teleporting back.

"You're not saying you're going to run too?" Galuf took several steps forward, his left arm rubbing the bruise under his suit, the bruise caused by Garland barely a whole minute ago. "I have a sword with your name on it, Garland."

"Consider yourself fortunate that I'm prohibited from attacking you right now, Galuf." Garland turned to face the two men, neither of the two had yet to show any skills truly worthy of his time, perhaps Jecht could if he didn't leave himself open so many times with each swing.

Bits of purple smoke began to come off of Garland as he stood there, inciting a sudden charge from Galuf and Jecht in an attempt to strike him before he disappeared. It failed. Their weapons collided with the simple metal of the landing pad they were standing on, Jecht's weapon left a mini-crater where it struck, while Galuf's weapon made a almost unnoticeable crack that barely extended from the spot the sword struck down at.

A feeling if disappointment went through both of them for a moment as they pulled their weapons back, followed by an awareness that they should move on, staying here wouldn't help them against Chaos.

* * *

At the throne of Chaos, the Warriors gathered, and not just the Warriors.

Chaos had done as the Emperor had suggested, and the god now had a true army answering to his Warriors, and to him.

Standing directly in front of Chaos, Emperor Mateus smirked at the sight as all his fellow Warriors stood at attention. "Now you see why we have no choice but to win this war now."

Mateus was surrounded by Royal Knights and Black Knights from the Palmecian Empire, each elite soldier scanning the surroundings, ready to strike one of the Warriors of Chaos for simply looking at their Emperor the wrong way. They were forever bound in their loyalty to the Imperial throne.

Gabranth stood at attention to the left, accompanied by a small army of Arcadian Soldiers, as well as a small unit of lesser judges.

After the events of the Floating Continent, the soldiers of the Gestahlian Empire were hardly loyal to Kefka, instead the soldiers he was surrounded by had their minds currupted by Mateus, answering unquestioningly to Kefka's will, and to the Emperor's.

Likewise, Esthar was now loyal to Laguna, and they never had any true loyalty to Adel in the first place, the Esthar soldiers forming a protective ring around her had their minds warped by the Emperor, they were nothing more then Adel's slaves at this point. Though they still had enough will to respond to taunts, as Kefka witnessed earlier when he insulted their pickaxe-like weapons.

Exdeath never had much of a common infantry man in his army, and he was apathetic to the existence of his own army. The Emperor knew this, and despite being recalled from the field, he was not given proper troops to lead.

Garland was in the same boat, he had little fondness for the knights of Cornelia, if he rebelled, none of them would have the courage to face them. Besides, he had guided this conflict by himself for eons, he had no need for an army directly under him now. He glanced toward the various military units that surrounded his "allies". The Emperor was hiding something, one look at these soldiers made it clear that in this conflict they would amount to little more then bodies throw at the Warriors of Cosmos.

Indeed, Mateus was hiding something, he had spoken to Chaos about something else after Garland had left, and it would be quite some time before the fruits of the second discussion will come to light…

* * *

**Ha ha! Exdeath had really been fighting Richard and Shantotto for too long. And now they have these armies, yes...**

**In V, Exdeath's army doesn't really have a proper "foot-soldier" design, which is why he didn't get his own henchmen here. I'm pretty sure writing him as apathetic about his own army is completely in-character, though. That army wasn't around for long, anyway.**


	10. Reinforcements

**And so we continue. Heh.**

**Oh, and before we start, Mrfipp, the reason Exdeath wasn't given his own army was because his army doesn't have a standard "foot-soldier" design, something armies like Palamecia, Arcadia, and others did have. The Demons of The Rift can't really be used here because, as flat as they were, they were still defined characters, not run-of-the-mill generic soldiers.**

**Disclaimer: I own nuttin'**

* * *

Sephiroth walked alone once more, and not for a second did his mind contend with where he was walking now. A castle of some sort, completely normal in shape, with clearly controlled placement of the stones, he was already in the throne room, though he didn't remember walking through any other part of the castle.

One of the quirks of this world created by Cosmos and Chaos, walk to the edge of the boundary of one part of it, and you'll be teleported without warning to another. Sephiroth got used to it fairly quickly, the others weren't so quick to grow accustomed to it.

The castle was darkened, it must have been night in this world when it was copied for the conflict it was the throne room, identifiable only by how what little light that was coming in was reflecting off of the throne. Beyond that, nothing could be seen, at all. It was too dark to see anything else.

Yet he could see _them_.

Several individuals had crept into the room on the opposite side, and they were trying to form a circle around Sephiroth. Even without being able to truly make out who they were, he could tell that they were not any Warrior of Chaos he had seen before, in fact, they far out-numbered the Chaos Warriors, a brief flicker of confusion graced his eyes before disappearing, he would deal with the questions later.

The strange figures lunged at him, signaled by a sudden flash of steel that dove toward Sephiroth's head. He merely took a step back, the blade slicing through the air only a few inches away from his chest, Sephiroth responded to the attempt on his life where he, in one motion, summoned the Masamune, and struck in the general direction the blade had come from. He heard a cry of pain through the air, along with the unmistakable sound of a sword falling on the ground.

Was the opponent disarmed, or had the Masamune struck fatally? He had no time to care, as he sensed someone coming at him from behind, turning around, one single upward movement of his sword threw the intended strike aside as the weapon flew from the hands of it's owner. Sephiroth would never know if the loss of weapon even registered on the person… before a second movement of the Masamune sent the would-be assassin to his demise.

There was utter silence around Sephiroth, no sound at all, besides a distinctive breathing that could be heard from both assassins and target, before his shadowy enemies made another move. Two came at him from opposite sides, his left and his right, they moved more cautiously then the earlier attackers, there was no fear in their movements, it seems that they just understood that Sephiroth could defend himself even if there was close to no light filtering in.

The slashes remained fast, but there was an extra element of tactical concern this time, one slash came vertically, and the other came horizontally, Sephiroth dodged it simply by moving forward before any sword touched his head or back, only two steps forward, before he turned around and silenced another two aggressors with three swipes of the Masamune against what he assumed was their chests.

As the limp bodies fell down, another silence overtook the throne room. The silence was broken, but not by another attempt to kill him, but by a soft chuckle. The figures around him took a step back as the chuckle continued, then they all began moving toward the doorway Sephiroth had come from, huddling around it, creating a half-ring from the left end of the door to the right end.

The door opened with a glow, completely different then when Sephiroth had entered the room earlier. A single figure walked in, his face seen clearly with the light from the other side of the door. It was Emperor Mateus again, the one who had drilled doubt into him more then Garland and Exdeath did.

"Most impressive, Sephiroth." Mateus ceased his chuckling and took to a even humorless face, "Not many could take on Palamecian Black Knights in the dark like that. Your world has bred a truly spectacular fighter."

The soldiers around the Emperor, the Black Knights, now fully illuminated, advanced along with Mateus as he walked forward. "I'd bid you welcome to the Palamecian Castle… if you were welcome here."

Weapons drawn, the Black Knights kept their eyes focused fully on Sephiroth, ready to diffuse, or attempt to diffuse, any potential attack he may attempt on their liege. To their fortune, Sephiroth stood where he was, though with the Masamune still drawn.

"What do you know about this world?" Sephiroth trained his eyes on Mateus, ignoring the soldiers, though if they made any sudden movements, they would find the edge of the Masamune going across their face.

"Curious, are you?" The Emperor gave another chuckle, and not one of his soldiers as much as loosened their grip at the sound of their master's almost casual disdain for the situation. A testament to the loyalty and servitude they had for him. "Curious about the nature of this sealed world?"

Another smirk was born on Mateus' face as he saw Sephiroth's eyes briefly flicker in confusion at his choice of words. Naked confusion, Mateus could make such an expression appear on other's without any particular effort at all, it only fueled his belief in his own superiority.

Yet… this was not yet the time to reveal to Sephiroth the truth. Even with someone as simple as a soldier, finesse was needed, the SOLDIER commander could be a powerful ally, but he could easily develop into an unhinged wild card if not handled with care… for now he would continue to place carrots in front of his face.

"You have more fights with the Warrior of Chaos ahead of you, Sephiroth. If you survive, you will be told the truth of this world." Mateus' smirk deepened as he went to the next part of his tempting, "…and maybe, you'll figure out who Jenova is."

Sephiroth flinched at the name, the Emperor… knew that name?

"Here is your first fight, Sephiroth." Mateus stretched out his arm and pointed a finger at Sephiroth… at once the Black Knights surged toward him.

* * *

Laguna was now traveling by himself. The area he was in was Bal, he didn't know it but, Galuf had a distinct connection to this area. For right now, a bigger concern to Laguna were the figures occupying the castle.

A patrol of some sort was surveying the area, though he had seen only a few vague sightings of whatever they were. It made him a bit nervous, considering that the only people in this world was supposed to be the Warriors and the two gods. Yet still he moved forward, through the gates of the castle in the area, Castle Bal.

If he only knew what he'd have to go through to get out of the castle now…

The courtyard was a pleasing sight, considering most of the shards used for this world were comprised of battlefields and other cold and humorless sights… the garden was heartwarming. The minimal uplifting effect was skewered as he saw figures moving in the first room of the castle, through the castle door, which had strangely been left wide-open, like someone wanted any intruders to peer inside.

Yet there seemed to be nothing of significance in plain sight from what he could see, if someone was trying to get him a message, he wasn't getting it, whatever it was. Unless it was an… invitation.

Laguna paced forward, his machine gun firmly in his right hand, the quietness of the area was somewhat chilling. Whoever the figures scouring the area outside the castle, and in it, where, they probably weren't friendly, though for whatever reason, no one seemed to be keeping an eye on the courtyard.

Taking a breath to calm himself, Laguna began to move himself closer to the open doorway…

* * *

Adel paced endlessly at the Edge of Madness, despite being given her own troops to lead, Mateus had called them away almost instantly to deal with something else. He made it quite clear that he would call troops from other Chaos Warriors without warning, though he also said that he wouldn't call them away when they're serving the wishes of their master from their world. Appropriate, as Adel had no clearance to leave the Edge of Madness right now, so she could offer no counter-argument at the Emperor's demand to use her troops.

Though in retrospect, this was a much better prospect then to have been on the receiving end of Garland's attacks, which Kefka has been for the last hour, as ordered by the Emperor. The man took acting outside orders very seriously. It did little to weaken her frustrations…

_Why do you put up with them, Sorceress? The clown is but a rank amateur. Gabranth would be only a window dressing against you._

"Yes, they are inferior." Adel's frustrations ebbed ever so slightly with the understanding of her sheer superiority… before a bolt of confusion hit her. "Wait, who-"

Adel looked around, there was no one around her, but she had clearly heard someone's voice, but only in her head. No sound graced her ears, save for the sound of the lava pouring from the clouds above her.

_No, Sorceress, my voice is quite real._

Adel's eyes narrowed at the condescending tone the voice used right there, the woman was nothing if not easily agitated. She remained silent, effectively ordering the voice to speak again, the voice was not one to be easily chased off.

_Do not worry, Sorceress, I am an ally in this. Merely listen to me and I will grant you power, power enough to rise above the Warriors of Chaos._

Adel's frustration with the voice vanished at the promise of power, though she retained no interest in being a partner with the owner of this voice, she could bear it, for now.

* * *

"So let me get this straight." Shantotto put her staff away after this latest fight, "These soldiers are the ones you fight against? They fell as quickly as weights."

Now in a construct of a place known as Sky Fortress Bahamut. Richard wiped a bit of blood off his spear as he took in the sight before him. Dead imperial soldiers everywhere, Shantotto had easily concluded that the Chaos Warriors had found a way to summon, or simply create, reinforcements.

The battle had resulted in an… unnecessary flashback to the days of combat against the Empire, one that the Dragoons lost. It wasn't until a certain group of rebels found him that he learned the ultimate conclusion of the Dragoon's campaign, he was… elsewhere, at the end of it all.

Honestly, without those rebels, he'd still be stuck within Leviathan.

Shantotto had made one mistake, though. When they had attacked, the soldiers had identified themselves as imperial knights, but they clearly weren't of the Palamecian Empire. Richard swung his spear in an exaggerated motion, slashing through the air, reflecting on battles against the Palamecian army he had partaken in, in his own world.

"Different Empire." Richard tilted his head down to the soldiers lying on the ground, they clearly weren't Palamecians at all. A slight trace of depression gnawed at him, he had no specific ill toward these soldiers, it just so happened that they were on the other side.

"A much superior Empire, Dragoon."

Richard and Shantotto turned around, standing behind them was Judge Gabranth. With one of his twin swords in each hand, and with another unit of imperial soldiers behind him, it was clear that it was a fight he was planning to give the two Warriors of Cosmos.

"You are not welcome in the greatest flagship of the Arcadian Empire." Gabranth's eyes glared from under his helm, never diverting taking his eyes off of Richard or Shantotto.

With two lesser judges moving at his left and right, and a score of common troops behind him, Gabranth began a charge at the two.

* * *

Jecht and Galuf were in a different location, Narshe as it was called. It was a snow covered town, covered with clear traces of technology. Beyond that, there seemed to be little of note, beyond Jecht complaining about the cold, and Galuf telling him he should have just kept a shirt handy.

They would have uneventfully passed through, if it weren't for the fact that they were suddenly attacked.

A blast of Thundara had shot at them at some anonymous direction. The arc of the lightning struck the ground directly in-between them, the heat instantly melting the snow into water, giving exposure to the steel under their soles.

Neither of the two had moved at all, it was almost impossible to think that the strike had missed them if a long-range assassination had been the intention of anyone. Which could only mean… the assailant had missed on purpose.

The validity of that assumption was called into question when another blast of electricity came down, this one much larger, and completely enveloped Jecht and Galuf in it's heat for several seconds, before depositing it's victims onto the ground, now only hard steel, the water the snow would have had to have melted to already evaporated.

"Your reflexes leave much to be desired."

Jecht leaned up off the ground, rising into a hunched position on the ground, only seeing Garland before him, based on position, he would have had to have been behind him earlier.

"Last I checked, you weren't a professional of magic." Jecht reached an arm out and around to rub at the skin on his back. He couldn't feel any particular damage, then again, his ability to feel pain might have been numbed to some degree by the shock of the blast that hit him.

"That attack didn't come from me." Garland pointed a finger past Jecht and Galuf, his finger pointed to the top of one of the snow-covered buildings, one building had a spire that was shaped oddly. Not to mention the fact that there was a surge of electricity moving around it.

"After attacking Adel, and acting outside his order to remain at the Edge of Madness, I am acting as the Esper-girl's keeper." Garland lowered his hand back down as the Esper disappeared in a flash of light, reappearing beside him. Good, she was skilled in understanding un-spoken orders.

A partner was not something he needed, but Mateus did not gauge any of the other Chaos Warriors as stable enough to maintain her. Giving Terra to Adel had been completely out of the question.

"You think because you have some summon-girl, you can win?" Galuf pulled himself up to a standing position as he made the statement, impressively going from prone on the ground to standing in only a few seconds.

"Last I checked, your scarred partner could not match up well against me." Garland gave out a soft chuckle as he recalled the battle that occurred earlier, at the very beginning of this cycle, in fact. He had knocked Jecht out with one punch after a short exchange with their swords.

"Oh, if you think it'll be the same as that, then let me tell you something…" Jecht tightened his grip the hilt of his sword, and charged forward at Garland, completely ignoring Terra, "A real ace always gets his second wind, and he always comes out on top!"

* * *

Laguna walked into Castle Bal, and that's when he finally saw one of the strange figures up close. They were… Esthar soldiers.

Laguna felt like a load that been taken from him, he felt more at ease with familiar faces, or… familiar masks, he couldn't tell who anyone was under those uniforms, but he was among old friends now. He sauntered up to one of the Esthar soldiers and firmed grabbed him on the shoulder.

"Hey, what are you guys doing here?" Laguna let a smile appear on his face.

The soldier turned around to gaze at Laguna, and the soldier's grip on his weapon grew stronger at the sight of Laguna, the sudden aggression made Laguna's smile dissipate, but what was truly unexpected, was that the soldier swiped Laguna's hand away with his free arm.

Other Esthar soldiers collected around the first soldier, each exercising a firm two-handed grip on their weapon, each hunching down into a battle position.

"The will of Adel… The will of the Emperor…" The first soldiers brought his free arm onto the hilt of his weapon, and began a charge at Laguna.

"Our master's will is first… and foremost!"

* * *

**Ah! Who is this voice who had contacted Adel? And what does he have to offer? The future chapters hold the answer.**


	11. On The Edge of Change

**And here we are with a new chapter. Cheers!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Jecht and Galuf make the simple assumption. Garland and the Esper are there to kill them on the spot, end their attempt to win the war in Cosmos' favor. Garland's aggressive actions give no reason to disbelieve that. As his blows tear through the air, across their weapons, and occasionally through a bit of Narshe that had the misfortune of just happening to be there, his mind is entirely focused on fighting.

Or rather, most of his mind is focused on fighting, yet there is a small part of the back of his mind that knows otherwise.

This is a farce.

Below Narshe, in the mines connected to it, Gestalt soldiers prowl and lurk, quietly digging around, looking for… something. Garland and Terra had only attacked due to the close proximity the two were coming to the mine, something had to be done, the Emperor vehemently swore that a source of great power was resting in the mine, and it was necessary that they have it.

Above ground, the fight continued, Jecht was looking for pay-back for the first fight of this cycle, and his blows were coming with just that extra pinch of ferocity that slightly disturbed Garland's defense and composure. Yet, not enough to change the fact that in terms of sheer muscle, and control over the weapon, Garland was still the dominant. A fact that became rather explicate when a swing of his sword knocked Jecht's clear past out of his hand.

The fight might have ended right there, but right before a punch much like earlier could have ended the fight, Jecht grabbed Garland's arm and redirected the punch to swing to the empty air to the left of Jecht's head.

With a firm grasp on the knight's arm, Jecht proceeded to drag the knight toward him, before promptly head-butting the knight on the forehead.

Pain was an ignorable feature for both combatants, but that made it no more pleasant. Jecht could almost feel a literal deformity on his forehead after that. In reality, it was an exceedingly unwise move to head butt someone wearing a helmet, but spur of the moment occasions in battle didn't allow thought about these sort of things to be thought about clearly.

Garland felt a realistic jolt of pain course through him, but it was most likely minimal compared to what went through Jecht, ironic, considering that it was an attack by Jecht that sent this feeling through both of them. On the other hand, if Jecht's intention had been to create distance between them, he succeeded.

But not for long.

Garland was nothing if not tenacious, before Jecht had much of a chance to register the pain he had brought on himself, Garland was on him again. The scarred man managed to avoid the upward swing of the sword by jumping back instinctively, but clumsily landed on his foot and spilled onto his back. To his meager fortune, Garland did not immediately press the attack.

Garland loved to savor the moment, and, though not a tasteless sadist like Kefka, did occasionally enjoy just watching his opponent scramble, but only for a moment. He began to move his feet forward, well after the time Jecht had righted himself, and was already moving toward his flung sword.

Garland broke into a run after Jecht, though while Garland was no sluggard, Jecht didn't have the burden of heavy armor. Jecht rather easily reached the sword first, and turned to face Garland, only for a blast of electricity to carve across the ground between them.

Terra floated in the air, her left arm out-stretched, the blast of electricity she intended to hit Galuf with went past the aged warrior, who completely rolled out of the way, and instead shot directly towards Jecht and her current overlord, Garland.

This didn't seem to discourage her, charging her hands with fire, she lunged forward, expecting to singe Galuf by grabbing him with enflamed hands, but instead had to quickly dodge a horizontal swipe of his sword. Flipping backwards, she tried to lunge again, this time her right claw went across Galuf's shoulder, just barely though. Tearing five slits into the fabric of the shoulder and leaving a red mark on the flesh itself. Blood? Or maybe just a bruise? Galuf couldn't concern himself with it right now, and Terra currently lacked the mental aptitude to understand it.

They simply continued the fight.

* * *

Kefka prowled around the Edge of Madness, being told to not leave unless on a mission. His unauthorized attack on Adel was not easily forgotten, though it wasn't Adel's safety that Mateus or Chaos was concerned about, it was simply the belief that they didn't need such a wild card among them, at least one that couldn't be trusted to not follow orders.

The girl that slaved under him? They had a much higher opinion of her them him. She was unhinged and psychotic in battle, but she followed orders. The only one who didn't like her was Adel, but the Sorceress usually displayed a pathological hatred of everyone besides herself. Almost like Kefka in a way, though their preferred methods differed…

"What are you sulking about?"

Kefka turned to face Adel, the woman's expression seemed to have softened somewhat compared to when she first came back, but her gaze remained fierce. Like she was trying to kill people with her stare alone…

"Oh, step in front of a Magitek Armor, Adel."

Adel's nose wrinkled at the comment, though it was impossible for her to understand the reference, she got the general message. "If it weren't for Mateus' instructions, I'd kill you right now, clown."

_Why obey the Emperor? You know your power far surpasses his._

"Naturally." Adel let out a small smirk, "I'm far superior to the Emperor, that goes without saying."

A spark of confusion went through Kefka as he raised an eyebrow at Adel's bizarre statement. "Who are you talking to?"

_Yet your power needs refinement, you can't hope to fight against all the Warriors of Chaos, and Chaos himself, as you are now._

Adel's smirk faded away to another scowl, "I wouldn't need anyone's help to defeat the Chaos Warriors. They're all lowly insects before me."

"Um… earth to Adel?" Kefka moved up next to the Sorceress, making an exaggerated motion of "door-knocking" on her, though his curled hand never touched her head. "The only other person here is me. Who _are_ you talking to?"

Adel was busy talking to the voice, but Kefka's words also registered on her, and she responded by quickly turning and jamming an open palm into his gut, rather painfully throwing him to the ground.

"When I want to talk to you, I'll go to you, clown."

Adel stormed off, leaving a much confused Kefka behind. Her reaction didn't even make any sense, even to someone as demented as Kefka. He pulled himself back up to his feet, just in time for another visitor to appear.

Less "appear" so much as "approach from behind".

"It seems her constant failures is granting her a level of insanity." Exdeath let out a sigh, it couldn't be said that any of the Chaos Warriors thought too highly of her. Not that anyone of their group thought well of the others, but dislike for that woman was a commonality among them. Even Kefka had more general acceptance among them…

"It's so annoying… on top of the fact that Garland stole my favorite toy from me…" Kefka let out a grunt as he recalled the lecture Mateus had given him by acting without orders, Kefka had no patience for orders and plans, he was always more the sort to let his impulses, and wit, drive him in these scenarios.

"Would you rather I or the Emperor take the girl?" Exdeath allowed himself a small laugh at the scowl that appeared on Kefka's face. Kefka seemed intent on the belief that no one besides him could be the girl's master. Technically speaking, he was her singular master, because the slave crown was linked directly to his orders, but Mateus knew much about how to alter machinery with his magic, and now she was chained to whomever he willed her to be chained to.

* * *

The Esthar soldiers charged, and Laguna, predictably, didn't want to fire upon them.

They were his people. Even like this.

It was ironic, as a Galbadian soldier, he had killed multiple Esthar soldiers… albeit with his share of guilt, but not so much a feeling as he would have felt if he killed them now. He was the president of Esthar, they viewed him as a savior after he had ended Adel's tyranny over him, if he killed them just because it was more convenient for him, what would that make him?

The weapon of one soldier came close to Laguna, it's swing missing his face by mere inches, yet Laguna couldn't bring himself to counterattack, even if he had almost been killed by the swing.

"What are you waiting for Laguna? Or would you rather they killed you?"

Laguna paused for a moment at the strange voice that urged him to kill his soldiers, scanning the area around him, behind all the soldiers stood none other then Emperor Mateus.

"Emperor! Did you do this to them?" Laguna pointed his gun at Mateus, but then put it down as an Esthar soldier got in between Laguna and the Emperor, Mateus laughed at the sight of the president's guilt.

"I merely showed them how to enjoy serving under Adel, and me." Mateus raised a hand, and the Esthar soldiers grasped the order to take a defensive role. They didn't recognize Laguna in their current state, all they understood now was absolute devotion to Adel and the other Chaos Warriors.

Mateus smirked at the clear expression of hatred across Laguna's face. This was what he was used to. The anger and disgust on his enemy's faces, it had appeared so many times before, this wasn't the first time he had manipulated people into turning against a single person, he had led his dark knight, Leon, into believing that his three allies had left him to die…

Unlike that occasion, Mateus had no interest in Laguna's loyalty, he was merely testing his will, and the extent of his survival instinct. And this test was coming to an end…

With a wave of his hand, the Esthar soldiers surged forward, with the intention of ending Laguna's life.

* * *

Gabranth made no attempt to press his ground, instead letting his enemies come to him. The Dragoon's armor was much lighter, anyway, suited to allow mid-air acrobatics, Gabranth's armor was comfortable to move around in, but less suited to sudden bursts of high-speed action.

Richard sprang forward, swatting one Arcadian soldier out of the way as he aimed at Gabranth, his charge was easily met. One of Gabranth's swords came forward horizontally, catching Richard's spear before it could end Gabranth's life.

Richard wasn't impressed, and recoiled slightly, then sprang again, though he was once again repelled by Gabranth's sword.

When Richard backed up this time, Gabranth went on the offensive, with both swords in hand, Richard's spear was barely able to defend against the offense.

Barely, but still able.

Shantotto was elsewhere in the fight against Gabranth's reinforcements, but saw Richard struggling with his defensive play, she tried to go help him, only for an Imperial Judge to strike her in the face with a metal fist. Knocking her straight to the ground as a score of Judges circled around her.

She was kneeling on the ground for a moment, before surge of magic moved through her, a Quake spell occurred right under her feet. At first the Judges only endured a loss of their footing, but after a moment, sharp rocks splintered up from beneath them, carving at their sides at striking at their chests, it was only a moment before their bodies fell limp, and she was free to continue her attempted assistance of Richard.

In those few seconds Shantotto was occupied with Gabranth's soldiers, Gabranth had gained the upper hand against Richard. It was ironic, Richard had spent the last few years of his life fighting against an empire, and now he was locked in battle against a champion of a different empire… it made the battle no more pleasant.

Gabranth's strikes were filled with hatred, it was obvious to anyone, only someone filled with an emotion like that would make such wide swings, strike so hard, and move from one blow to another without a thought to the consequences it was having on their body. Those driven by hatred sometimes had to rest for days after a battle due to what they put their body through, and even the best White Mage might have to work for hours before the damage was completely repaired.

Yet despite the fact that his swings were leaving obvious openings in his defense, Richard was given no opportunity to capitalize on them, Gabranth was forcing his attacks too hard and too quickly, in armor like that, the strain he was putting on his body must have been almost unbearable…

Gabranth didn't think or care, he utilized the same trick he had used earlier against Laguna and Sephiroth, he saw Richard as Basch. As long as he believed that he was fighting against Basch, he could handle any strain.

A belief that would be put to a test, when a blast of fire, called forth by a certain Tarutaru mage, struck him in the back.

It didn't reach his skin, but the force of it hitting him, and the burning of the outer layer of his armor, disorienting him enough for Richard to make his charge. Charging straight forward, he made one pivotal jab with his spear, right to Gabranth's chest, not strong enough to pierce the armor, but enough to send a jolt of pain through the Judge Magister… and knock him several feet back.

Gabranth's legs scraped against the steel floor of Sky Fortress Bahamut, and he may have lost his footing and fallen down to a vulnerable position if it weren't for one of the lesser soldiers appearing to stop his movement.

Having had his movement stopped, it took Gabranth only a moment to reacquire his balance. He felt the slightest strain in his arms, though in truth it was much worse then it felt right now, but he ignored it, all he did was lunge, but not towards Richard, rather, he went straight for Shantotto, which neither of them had expected.

In a reflex, Shantotto attempted to set up a Wall, only for Gabranth to shatter it with what seemed to be minimal effort, his blade aiming directly for the small Mage, only for a panicked blast of Blizzara to slightly re-direct his blade, missing her by only a few inches, it carved into the wall behind her. It didn't stop him from trying to attack with his second blade, but such an attempt was negated when Richard came up behind him, necessitating an immediate reaction out of Gabranth.

Half-turning to face the Dragoon, the arm that had intended to attack Shantotto instead knocked the spear out of the way, and prepared to head straight for the Dragoon himself…

Yet a force of Gravity put such a possibility on hold. Gabranth's body was suddenly flung to the ground without warning, when given even a moment to think, Shantotto was capable of more then just defensive spells.

Gabranth wouldn't be stopped so easily, though he had been put into a severe disadvantage, with his own gravity increased ten-fold, he managed to return himself to a kneeling position.

Richard and Shantotto acted as if the fight was over, or at least, Gabranth's involvement in it was, instead turning to face the waves of Arcadian soldiers, seemingly forgetting about the Magister behind them…

* * *

The Masamune was a blade that, supposedly, was so sharp, it did not draw blood. Such a legend was given credibility at the sight of the Gestalt soldiers behind Sephiroth.

After he had defeated the Palamecians, he moved onward, and now he was in a copy of the Windrust Federation, and evidentially a patrol was being conducted by the Chaos Warriors… not anymore though, any level of control and order they had hoped to impose was gone. If these were the challenges the Emperor was hoping to impose, then…

Sephiroth's slight cockiness was cut short as… something, hit him in the back. As his body sailed forward, tumbling, he quickly got a hold of himself, spinning to correct his movement, he landed on his feet, face-to-face with what had attacked him from behind.

It was another Gestalt soldier, but this one was moving in a mech of some kind. Magitek Armor, though Sephiroth wouldn't have been familiar with the term, it wouldn't have been relevant to him regardless.

Sephiroth charged forward, and the soldier fired a red beam from the chest of the armor, yet the attack missed as Sephiroth leapt up over the blast, the soldier looked up to follow Sephiroth's movement, only to have his life ended with a single downward stroke of the Masamune.

Several piloted Magitek Armors surrounded Sephiroth, giving him no moment to examine the suit of armor he had just rendered pilot-less. Still… if they were anything like the last suit, this should be simple.

* * *

The Esthar soldiers were relentless, just like how they were when Laguna fought them in the Sorceress War, but now they displayed no interest in their own safety, as could be seen when one soldier slashed one of his own comrades down to put himself into a better position against Laguna.

When that very same soldier lunged at him, Laguna's natural survival instinct took over, he pointed his gun, but only two bullets came out before he realized what he was doing.

It didn't change the fact that those bullets had been fired, and they went right into the Esthar Soldier's chest, and he fell down. The feeling that began coursing through Laguna was unbearable, but he had no time to think about it, he had killed one soldier, but there were scores still trying to get at him.

* * *

The fight in Narshe had continued and continued, but it was surely leaning in favor of the Chaos Warriors. It wasn't just Garland's strength, but his clear adaptive nature, over the endless cycles he had come to understand how to negate just about any fighting style in existence. The unending battles had brought him to a level of strength that others could only dream of. For as strong as Jecht was, Garland was stronger…

Garland slammed his sword into the ground, creating a massive crack in the earth, the crack continued on, directly to where Jecht was standing, the sudden weakness in the crust, combined with Jecht's own weight, triggered a collapse, sending Jecht into the underground.

Garland stood there for a moment, expecting Jecht to crawl back out after a moment, and then it occurred to him, he had just sent Jecht into the mine he was supposed to be keeping the Cosmos Warriors from.

Things like this were prone to happen when he let his natural instinct for battle take hold of him, though he doubted Mateus would do anything to him if his operation was compromised, but for now, he needed to deal with Jecht before he saw the Gestalt soldiers.

Taking a step forward, Garland leapt into the massive hole, unknown to him, this action had lead Galuf, attempting to help Jecht, and in turn, Terra, who was targeting Galuf, to follow him into the mine.

* * *

"Must you insist on prowling like that?" the Emperor warped into the Edge of Madness to find Kefka pacing in frustration over his lack of free mobility.

Kefka looked over his shoulder to spot the Emperor, before turning back and continuing forward, he was not the man he had any interest in talking to right now.

"If you want to regain mastership over the Esper, then you'll redeem yourself with a new mission." Mateus repressed the desire to smirk as Kefka turned around with an expectant look on his face. "Sephiroth is expecting challenges from the Chaos Warriors, and I doubt he's impressed by the Gestalt soldiers fighting him right now, show him your power."

Kefka scowled, or perhaps "pout" would have been a more appropriate term for the face Kefka was wearing at this point. Regardless, he didn't like taking orders from the one who had taken the Esper from him, but if it allowed him to reaffirm himself as Terra's only master…

"Now that you have your orders, I have to see to Adel-"

"Girl talks to herself now." Kefka attempted to summon a smile, but was disappointed by the calm evenness he saw on Mateus' face.

"Talks to herself?" Mateus' voice gave no indication to how he was feeling, and his words were answered only by a nod of the head by Kefka.

"It's begun then…" The Emperor gave a soft chuckle, generating confusion in Kefka. Mateus simply turned toward Kefka to give as much of an answer as he would give, "Things will get very interesting around here, soon."

Kefka stood there for a few moments, unable to process the meaning behind Mateus' words, Emperor Gestal was much easier to understand then Mateus.

"What are you waiting for? You have your mission." Mateus' smirk died away, "Remember, if you want to become the Esper's master again, you'll do as I say."

Kefka scowled one final time, and then teleported off to begin moving toward Sephiroth.

"Of course, if the unfolding incident at Narshe goes as I would expect, you'll never be Terra's master again." Mateus gave a final laugh.

* * *

Cosmos sat quietly on her throne, no one was at Order's Sanctuary, but just being by herself might have been too much. Ever since her talk with Sephiroth, something else was occupying her mind…

The fact that the Chaos Warriors knew about the cycle.

It couldn't have been Garland who told Sephiroth, Garland was dedicated to the cycle, he wouldn't do anything that could jeopardize it, and that meant, at least one of the other Chaos Warriors knew what was going on. Not even Chaos knew the truth, it was supposed to always just be her and Garland…

One of the warriors could do considerable damage if they knew that all their pain, and all their battles were meant entirely for the purpose of creating the ultimate weapon in Chaos.

She wished to be free of the cycle, unlike Garland, who embraced it, but, there was nothing she could do now, she had tried to see what could be done in previous cycles, and all of them had failed, she was deprived of hope, she could only continue to do her duty in the cycle.

Yet perhaps even this hopelessness might be answered someday…

But not today.


	12. Into The Mines

**I wonder if, perhaps, I write/will write Garland and Sephiroth as too powerful... but when you think about it, Sephiroth was evidentially able to single-handedly take on Cecil, Tidus, and Firion all by himself and come out on top, and Sephiroth only comments that WoL was "not bad at all". Then we go on to see that Garland is only defeated in one-on-one battles against WoL, we clearly see he's not trying to save face after the fight against Zidane.**

**...even then, considering that Garland was likely going along with Mateus' plan, we can't really say for certain if he truly lost his fights with WoL, which would mean that the Garland fight in Shade Impulse might be the only time we see him actually honestly lose, and that was a three-on-one fight.**

**Eh, nevermind, moving on.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

* * *

Broken Gestalt soldiers were strewn all across the ground, now defunct Magitek Armor was… all over the place, or at least the remains of them.

Sephiroth scrapped his boots against the stone tiles of the ground he was walking on. As he evaded and charged during the battle, a huge amount of blood had stuck to the soles. This blood had not come from swipes of the Masamune, but more due to mismanaged attacks by the Gestalt soldiers. To the common man, the sight before him would have been unbearable, but he was used to slaughters like this, it would have been different if one of his allies had taken part in this. That would have objected to his style of dispatching a foe, the way he carved and skewered, Richard used a spear but felt the need to let feelings of mercy, and of decency, prevent him from dispatching his enemies in the most efficient, albeit messy, way possible.

Though by his tales about the war he fought in, he apparently considered the Palamecians to be completely irredeemable. It was somewhat conflicting to think that Richard could be talking about decency in war, but believe that the opposing side were absolutely unworthy to live.

Sephiroth's thinking might of gone on longer, but he sensed an attack coming from behind. Turning around swiftly, his Masamune sliced through a large chunk of… ice?

The mass of ice hovered in the air, rather methodically sliced in two, and then suddenly crumbled… and shot forward. Sephiroth felt pain course through him as the ice stabbed at his body, all at once, it was over in a moment, the fact that the pain had been given evenly all over his body made it somewhat easier to bear. The attention he could pay to his pain, however, was lessened when a high-pitched cackle resounded in his ears.

In front of him was a clown, covered in the garish colors you'd expect of a clown, he knew this one, from the other side, a Chaos Warrior, Kefka.

"Hmm? Your reflexes are a bit faster then I thought." Kefka examined Sephiroth, hiding his surprise that he had managed to realize his Blizzard attack from behind. "Then again, it'd be hard to be that pathetic, unless your name was "Adel"."

Sephiroth felt slightly disoriented from the ice that went through his body, but his mind was clear enough to see Kefka suddenly attack. The clown had suddenly leapt forward and turned his back to Sephiroth, while a bad move in theory, Sephiroth caught wind of wings that were sprouting from the clown's back. A sharp set of wings that could easily impale Sephiroth and bring his life to an instant end, Sephiroth saw, analyzed, and understood the wings as they just began to grow out of Kefka's back, which isn't to say that it happened slowly. Sephiroth had grasped all of that in less then half a second.

The SOLDIER leapt back, the wings grew far bigger then one would have expected, but Sephiroth was well clear of them, and simply stood at the ready, the Masamune pointing at his adversary, as the wings began to recede back into Kefka's body, Sephiroth made his move, charging forward, he could easily end the fight with a strike to Kefka's legs, dangling in the air, while he reacted to the pain, he could strike at the chest, or perhaps the neck…

Sephiroth swung his sword, but when the blade went to the clown's legs, Kefka seemed to… fizz?

"Just an illusion, silver. Leo fell for the same trick." Kefka's chuckling voice came from above, Sephiroth flipped around to stop his momentum to look up at Kefka, only to see the clown thrust an arm out in an overly-exaggerated fashion, at once a pillar of electricity appeared in front of him, then another, then another…

Small pillars were sprouting in rapid succession, and the direction they were spreading was leading them directly toward Sephiroth… but it didn't take much brain-power to see that this could be negated simply by moving out of the way, Sephiroth spun to the left, ready to counter the trick, but Kefka had already moved on to his next attack.

A large chunk of ice formed in Kefka's arms, and he threw it forward in a rather clumsy manner, landing only about half a foot away from Kefka, except, the chunk was spinning rapidly. After staying in place for a moment, the spinning chunk charged forward, heading straight for Sephiroth's feet, it was easily jumped over, also closing the distance between the two combatants. Sephiroth charged forward again, it was becoming prudent to end the fight soon, the clown's attacks were deceptive in nature.

Kefka charged a blue sphere in each hand, and shot both of them towards Sephiroth, they rapidly expanded into exploding spheres of death, but that didn't deter Sephiroth, who simply… cut through them. The Masamune's blade sliced through the destructive blasts, as if the sword itself was magical, it also offered Sephiroth a chance at Kefka. Charging forward, the distance closed quickly, and Sephiroth made his cut…

It missed. Kefka leapt straight into the air, leaving only the air for Sephiroth to slash through. Stopped only for a moment, Sephiroth immediately jumped up after Kefka, intent on ending the fight with one blow, but Kefka had a way to react to his aerial cornering. Once again he turned his back to Sephiroth, so intent on ending the fight, Sephiroth neglected to remember Kefka had one viable close range option, and had no choice but to raise the Masamune in defense, and hope the wings wouldn't be strong enough to tear through the sword.

Sephiroth felt the wings collide with the sword, he could also feel the wings lightly tear into his arm. The pain he felt through his body… could have been worse. Yet he was more then capable of rebounding from this, just as Kefka's wings began to recede, Sephiroth responded with a slash of his sword along Kefka's back, granting a scream that was truly born of pain. He wasn't the only one in pain, though.

The nerves on Sephiroth's damaged arms were in clear protest after having had their damaged muscles used in such a rapid and forceful manner. It was all Sephiroth could do to keep himself from dropping his sword and clutching at his damaged arms. At the very least, the attack had knocked Kefka away, tumbling through the air, the pain along his back had apparently taken precedence over reorienting himself, which could be seen in the fact that rather then correct himself, he gripped his back in pain until he landed on the stone ground.

Sephiroth landed evenly upon the gravel, whereas Kefka's body had left a distinctive crack when he landed. Yet, he was already standing again, though not without clearly being in pain. The slash across his back had done lasting damage, perhaps enough to signal the end of the battle, but if that was true, the clown wasn't willing to accept it. Already he was charging electricity along his arms, though it appeared to discomfort him rather then thrill him, his arms quivered and shaked, as if they couldn't move freely.

"A rather displeasing display, Kefka." A familiar voice rang out, from up above the two combatants… in the air. Both warriors looked up at the same time, the owner of the words had been the one they both assumed, Mateus.

Mateus, the Emperor, floated down several meters, until he was only a few feet above them, "If that's all you can manage, you will never have your Esper back."

Kefka glared at the Emperor and a hiss escaped his mouth, if looks could kill, Mateus would have dropped dead right there.

"Not that it would have mattered if you won or lost, if Garland's battle is going as I foresee, the Esper won't be under anyone's control any longer."

"What?" Kefka's glare melted away to a face of pure shock, before solidifying into hate. "Why don't you try to save her? She's more powerful then Adel and Exdeath put together!

"I'm not that Esper's keeper, I'm afraid. You should have been keeping better control over her." The Emperor's face contorted into a cruel smile as Kefka teleported out with an enraged scream.

"You've done well so far Sephiroth." The Emperor turned to Sephiroth, continuing to smile, "Though if you continue as you are now, you won't survive the next battle."

* * *

Galuf slightly regretted jumping into the mines so fast. Down here it was pitch black, he couldn't see the people he had gone down after, nor could he see the one who had chased after him, except during the brief moments where her spells made light in the caves.

Terra gave her position away every time she sued a spell, but only for an instant, and what Galuf saw was generally too vague for him to capitalize on it. Her spells also presented a different problem, namely, cave-ins.

He didn't want to get pessimistic and jinx it, but damage to the walls could easily crack their way onto the ceiling and bring an end to them all. If an attack from Garland could collapse a part of the ceiling from the above ground, he could only hope that Terra's spells didn't have the power of Garland's muscles.

Instinct was a vital thing in life, especially in a situation like this. Combat was built on reflex when in the dark. And in this dark, Garland and Jecht could do little but strike at the slightest sound. Neither combatant had any fear or doubt building in them, though for Garland, it was because he knew that such small skirmishes meant nothing, he had fought too long to feel fear anymore. He was a perfect warrior, perfect weapon, yet he was only a taste of what the ultimate chaos would be like…

Giant swords clashed against each other in the dark, random sparks could not illuminate enough to give any clear sign of who was winning. Yet still the sounds continued, it was clear the fight was much more consistent and fierce then what was going on between Terra and Galuf. But going off the random yells and grunts, it would seem that Garland has the clear advantage.

Advantage… he always had one. The extent of his combat experience was impossible for a normal person to comprehend, he had learned how to counter any offense, how to negate any magical barrage, throughout the cycles, the Warriors of Cosmos could never understand how he could win such lop-sided battles. Dorgann didn't understand it, Zack didn't understand it, Braska didn't understand it… nor did his allies. Enuo had feared him, as had Yu Yevon, and Barthandelus…

Yet a certain… caution, was necessary here. The ground beneath them was only about three feet thick, and the Gestalt soldiers were in that very shaft directly beneath them, their mining operation still underway. Bearing fruit? Garland had no way of knowing, not yet…

Garland was assisted in this by the darkness of the tunnel they were in, Jecht had no way of knowing that he was avoiding making strikes at the ground. It made him no less anxious, Jecht should have more then enough power for a blow to the ground to tear an unmistakable hole to the next floor…

Not that Garland feared the Emperor's wrath, he knew exactly how to negate him like he did any Chaos Warrior of any cycle, if the a wrench was thrust into the Emperor's machinations, he would be neither better or worse off. It would still be for the best to oblige by the one who is masterminding their offense this cycle, however.

He heard Jecht lunge again, and raised his sword in defense, the blow slid across the side of Garland's weapon, and he lost no ground. He was able to go onto the offense again, he thrust his sword forward, but his body dragged along with the weapon, and his momentum was stopped by nothing, reacting on instinct, he detached the left side of his weapon and raised the new, slightly smaller blade overhead, he felt Jecht's weapon slam down onto it, the force slightly forced Garland into the ground, but not with enough force to make him lose his footing.

Garland moved on to counter-attack, he turned around and swung his raised weapon downwards, it collided with Jecht's own sword, which had evidentially been swinging down again. Both weapons had hit while still in a high point of their arc, and thus didn't strike with proper power, it elected a small gasp out of Garland, albeit, mostly due to the fact that he realized after the fact that the downward swing could have ruined his attempt to keep the floor intact.

No time to think about that, he heard Jecht move forward again, and Garland raised his sword in defense once more, but this time, Jecht's sword went straight forward, a thrust, and it forced Garland back a step when it collided with his defense.

Jecht tried to follow it up with a jumping downward slash, only for Garland to take a step back from the strike, and then Garland felt a slight knot in his stomach begin to form as he heard Jecht's weapon collide with the ground, and the torturous sound of cracking rocks could be heard.

In only a moment, light emanated from a medium-sized hole in the ground, the sudden light had a almost trance-like effect on the combatants, all four of them…

Well, three of them. While Galuf also turned and gave a silent 'thank you' to the presence of a small source of consistent light, Terra only registered the fact that Jecht was in plain sight, and began an attack, a surge of Firaga flew from her arms toward Jecht, the sudden new source of light from the flame caught everyone's attention, most of all, Garland's.

"Terra! No!"

The order came too late, an orb of fire was already racing to Jecht, who jumped out of the way, only for the blast to strike to the left of the already damaged ground, the damage of the inferno triggered a collapse. The floor in it's entirety began collapsing, the ground Jecht and Garland were standing on gave way simultaneously, and after only a few seconds, so was the ground Galuf was on.

* * *

Above ground, Kefka stomped through the city, signs of destruction and battle were all over the place, but it was nothing compared to what he would do to Narshe, or any place, if Terra ended up beyond his control.

Scanning his surroundings, his eyes caught sight of a large hole in the ground. Judging by the cracks around it, it was clear that it had been triggered by an attack… and since he saw no combatants still in the area…

Kefka continued to scowl as he jumped down the hole…

* * *

**Richard, Shantotto, hell, just about every character besides the two goes will return in the next chapter.**


	13. The Excavation

**I wonder if Laguna gets slightly OOC here... he never really gets, un-happy in VIII, except when he thought he caused a Moomba to fall to it's death.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Laguna stood on the bank of a river, dirt had collected all over his clothes, as casual as they looked. It didn't concern him right now, there was no way it could. Something else was taking priority over everything on his mind.

Namely, the Esthar soldiers. The _dead_ Esthar soldiers. His instincts had taken over, he had killed them. All of them. He was safe now, but he felt no warmth or comfort in the fact, he'd never be able to respect himself again. When… if, he got back, he wouldn't be able to look any of the Esthar soldiers in the face again.

Funny, he used to be more of the happy go lucky sort, but this wasn't something he could bounce back from. Oh sure, Kiros and Ward would try to find someway to reassure him, but…

Laguna's talk with himself was cut-short as a brilliant flash appeared to the side of him, out of the light walked a familiar figure.

"Cosmos…" Laguna sighed as the goddess came into view, her movement was slow, perhaps methodical, not precisely the words he might use to describe a god, but…

"I sensed that your spirit has been crushed." Cosmos' movements were obscured by her gown, and the light behind her, she appeared more like a silhouette. "What has happened?"

Laguna continued to look down on the ground, his face wasn't filled angst or frustration, it was just… sad, unhappy.

"Have you ever killed the people who thought of you as a savior? Killed them in scores?"

Cosmos seemed taken aback, she bowed her head, as if Laguna's statement had shamed her. In truth, it did bore into her in ways he couldn't have begun to imagine. Yet unlike him, she had had endless cycles to think about such things…

"Why did you sacrifice them?"

"So I could live."

Cosmos closed her eyes, under normal circumstances what Laguna was confessing to would be considered unstomachable and inexcusable, but…

"Do you need things put into a better perspective?" Cosmos opened her eyes back up, catching a distinctive tilt in Laguna's head as he turned back to her.

"What other perspective is there?" Laguna's head bowed down again.

"Tell me, Laguna, have you ever killed someone who had no connection to you, but were certain was a sane individual?"

"Wha-" Laguna's head shot up at the question. "I… I was a soldier, so, yes…"

"And you believed that, even though the deaths were cold, they were helping things reach a conclusion?"

Laguna closed his eyes, she wasn't saying that killing the Esthar soldiers was… justified, was she? Impossible, there could be no justification for-

"The logic may be cold, but, sometimes, a few have to be sacrificed for the many." Cosmos closed her eyes, reflecting on something… else. "If we try to go on without any sacrifices, we'll never get anywhere."

"But… you can't possibly approve of killing your own allies, regardless of the circumstances." Laguna stood back up, catching sight of a haunted look on Cosmos' face, albeit, one that dissipated almost instantly.

"I don't approve of it, but you need to understand, sometimes it's necessary." Cosmos gave a shake of her head, "You can't expect the Chaos Warriors to not try something like this. It's in their very nature, but you need to have the determination to prevent from being broken, that's what their aiming to do."

Laguna let out a sigh, but began to get back to his feet, he only felt slightly better…

"I'm sorry to say that we have no time to let you reflect on anything. Something new has come up." Cosmos closed her eyes again as Laguna studied her, and then she suddenly gasped at something she was seeing behind closed eyelids. "I sense great desperation in Shantotto and Richard, you must go help them."

The light behind Cosmos wrapped forward, beginning to envelope her, her distinctive teleportation system. The way the light went around her made it look like it would explode, but she'd only disappear in a flash.

"Wait, Cosmos. I still-"

"I can't offer you anything else right now." A large flash occurred, leaving only empty air where Cosmos had been standing.

Laguna stood there for a moment, like he was dazed, and then a realization dawned on him.

_Richard and Shantotto are in trouble? I have to go now!_

Regardless of the guilt he was feeling, he had to go to them, to help them, immediately.

* * *

Garland scraped a rock of his face. The weight of his armor had unfortunately allowed him to beat the debris to the ground. On the other hand, he _felt_ mostly un-injured… and then he realized his sword arm wasn't grasping anything.

Garland lashed his hand around, trying to find his sword, but all his hand touched was rough rocks, eventually, with a sigh, Garland sat up, artificial light lit up the room, this was clearly an area that the Gestalt soldiers were active in. He could see the obvious traces around the room, rocks sat aside two uniformly around the room, a sharp contrast of the huge clump in the middle that Garland came down with.

Garland turned his head to the right, he only saw the hilt of his sword, half-buried over more rocks, with a muted groan, Garland knocked more debris off of his feet and stood up. A quick glance to the left and right gave no sign of anyone else, unless they were buried under the rocks, he had been separated from the other combatants.

Slightly concerning, he wasn't aware what the power source in the mines was, but when he was briefed, the Emperor made it sound like the Cosmos Warriors finding it would spell the end of the Chaos Warriors. Garland had to get back on track.

Galuf found himself walking through the corridors of the mines by himself. After the crash, he had rolled into a side passage and the way back to the main chamber of the floor he landed on had been sealed by debris. He had been left with no choice but to try to get back from another path. So he walked onwards…

Things had been moving somewhat fast for a while, he hadn't been given much of a chance to think about it, but the mines reminded the amnesiac old man of something else. He had once taken part in a fight in a darkened cave before… right? Better lit then the fight in the above floor… less light then were he was now… but…

Galuf shook his head as he walked, the memory was too vague, and it wasn't terribly important right now.

Jecht punched forward, shattering a rock ahead of him, or rather, above him, seeing as he was prone on his back. He had been almost entirely sealed in by the rocks, but that was nothing to an ace… or something like that. With a viewpoint to the outside now, Jecht grabbed his sword with his right arm and swung it across his field of vision, shattering more rocks. Enough for him to climb out from the tomb, the area around him was familiar in the sense of being another mine chamber, but one look around told him that he had never been in this room before, the fact that it was lit up made that the more obvious.

A series of electrical lights were strung up on the ceiling, giving light to the surroundings, nothing was obscured by darkness now.

Terra's movements weren't obscured at all, she had floated down after the floor has mostly collapsed, but she hadn't managed to find anyone in plain sight. She immediately went down one of the many paths connected to the main chamber, she was going off of nothing, and her violent, but obedient mind, wasn't one to consider clues in the surrounding, when she had flown down, she passed right by both Garland and Jecht, just beginning to free themselves.

Garland had finally grabbed the hilt of his sword, and tore it from it's tomb with a single pull, just in time to, because he had to immediately turn around to deal with a new threat. As he turned around, Jecht's sword smashed across his own, Garland slightly lost his footing, standing on the uneven debris, but did not fall down, and he managed to counter-swing and repel Jecht's attack, knocking the scarred man away, but not preventing him from landing squarely on his feet.

"I see you do not learn, Jecht." Garland dashed forward, his weapon molding into a spear as he closed the distance, he passed by Jecht, the spear lightly went up against Jecht's defenses, not enough to break the defense, but enough to disorient him, Garland immediately turned around, his spear morphing into an axe, he swung downwards, striking against Jecht's shoulder, but not quite enough to stop the man from being able to fight.

Jecht's legs bent down, and he staggered off-balance, but to his credit, he never lost his footing, instead he managed to turn around and strike his sword against Garland's chest. Perhaps the only truly telling blow Garland had received yet in the cycle.

"I can't say I learn fast…" Jecht dashed toward the stumbling Garland, with sword in hand, hoping to strike a more decisive blow, but Garland was able to recover quickly enough and jumped back from the intended attack. Jecht's sword swished through empty air in front of Garland.

Garland returned to his offense, he swung his sword across his field of vision, but rather then simply try to hit Jecht, more then half of the blade detached on a chain, swinging out to carve along the walls of the cave, boulder upon boulder was cleaved out, and they were all heading right for Jecht.

Several swings of Jecht's sword destroyed most of the boulders coming at him, but distracted him from Garland, who had started to come from behind, Jecht managed to step to the left, dodging the sword thrust, but had to raise his sword in defense when Garland turned around with a sword-spin. The blow slid across Jecht's weapon, allowing him a chance to counterattack, Jecht attempted to raise his sword up and strike Garland's head with a down-arcing swing, only for the swing to be stopped, not blocked, stopped.

Garland had reached out with his left arm and grabbed Jecht by the shoulder, a massive movement, the knight threw the man behind him into the air, flailing until he crashed into the wall on the opposite side of the room.

Jecht fell to the ground, on his head, but quickly turned himself over back on his feet. Garland scoffed at the man's defiance, but gave a point of respect to his enthusiasm. It still wouldn't save him.

* * *

Galuf had been wandering through the mine for close to an hour now. He had started to realize the maze-like structure of the place, and just as he was considering, and dreading the possibility that he might not get out… until he came across other beings.

The shaft had ended at the edge of a cliff, and left Galuf overlooking something happening beneath him. It was an… excavation…

Soldiers unlike any other he had seen before were digging and drilling… they were pulling something up, whatever it was.

Galuf could see it, at first glance, it looked like a giant crystal, but there was something sealed… inside it.

Seal… seal… a sealing? Galuf's left hand instinctively moved up to his forehead, there was a memory surfacing.

_What's wrong with this guy? No matter how many times we knock him down, he just gets back up._

_Kelgar, we have no choice, we have to seal him up._

_What! Galuf, this world is innocent! We can't leave him here!_

_We can't worry about that now, Dorgann! We have to save _our_ world!_

A sudden flash of memory hit Galuf, and then it faded. He had sealed something before… something? No, he couldn't remember.

Galuf shook his head, he didn't have time to worry about that now. Though he didn't recognize them, one look at the soldiers beneath them made it clear that whatever they were digging up, it wasn't for any noble purpose. He could go down there and attack… or maybe he could wait until he found Jecht, or-

"gggh!"

Galuf suddenly flew forward as a sudden pain coursed through his back, his body flew well beyond the edge of the cliff before gravity took hold once more and commanded him to fall. He tumbled as he went down, rolling over in the air, it allowed him to catch a glimpse of his assailant.

Terra.

The shock that coursed through his system out of surprise that he had been snuck up on quickly subsided as he realized the cliff was only about fifty feet above the ground the soldiers were on.

Galuf's only hope was to find some way to slow his movement down, he immediately thrust his sword out into the stone wall.

_Don't break… don't break…_

Sparks appeared and rock was torn out as the sword sank into the wall, but Galuf's descent was slowing, he would be able to get down safely and slowly… if it weren't for the fact that Terra was still trying to attack him. Floating down along the cliff wall, a sudden blast of fire came from her hands and blasted directly beneath him, blowing out a huge chunk of the rocks beneath him, meaning that his sword didn't have anything to stick on to as he slid down, resulting in him falling away from the cliff wall.

Repressing the urge to yell in surprise, Galuf fell down in relative silence… that silence was difficult to uphold when he landed on his back. He wouldn't be permitted to say there, however, not with an Esper after him. With a small groan, he got up to standing position, then immediately dodged to the left, evading a blast of fire that came from directly overhead, and then suddenly had to duck a laser that came directly at him.

The laser had come from one of the soldiers in front of him. One in a suit of some kind, a walking suit of armor, and now Galuf was surrounded, the Esper girl on one side, and these soldiers on the other… Galuf felt a certain feeling of doubt raise in him at the odds, but it dissipated quickly enough, as a Cosmos Warrior he had to do this, in fact, he _wanted_ to do this.

* * *

Kefka had continued to prowl through the mines, the lighting in here was terrible, at least in the upper levels. This was a ridiculous mine, when he made it back to his world, the first thing he'd do was wipe Narshe off the map.

Kefka continued to scowl, the Emperor and Garland both had managed to get themselves right up on his long but vague list of people he was going to kill.

The mine was almost pitch-black, Kefka couldn't stop running into walls and large rocks, he was too angry and too intent on getting Terra back under his thrall to bother trying to feel his way around the cavern.

And then light caught his eye, on the other end of the area he was on, there was a large hole in the room, and he could hear yelling coming from it. He might of paid it no mind, until he heard Garland's voice.

He had some… pleasant… words for the knight. Walking up to the edge of the hole, he saw exactly who he expected, Garland, what was unexpected, was the presence of Jecht. Bringing a clenched fist in front of his face, Kefka opened the fist to reveal a pulsing white mass of magic…

He was not known for his restraint.

* * *

At the Edge of Madness, Adel and Exdeath stood patiently, though Adel continued to mumble and respond to a voice no one could hear. Their bit of acting as still statues was interrupted as Gabranth suddenly appeared in front of him with teleportation.

Gabranth was clearly injured, and was missing one of his blades, his entire left arm armor was singed, yet he seemed to have an air of victory over him. Lacking the blade in his left arm, that arm instead carried his helmet, exposing his actual face for the first time in this conflict.

Behind him were more Arcadian soldiers teleporting onto the scene. The first two were carrying objects, after observing them for a moment, Exdeath realized that Gabranth had managed to subdue Richard and Shantotto, his soldiers were carrying their incapacitated forms.

"They made the mistake of turning their back to me." Gabranth answered Exdeath's unspoken question, "Now Mateus will decide what becomes of them when he gets back."

* * *

"I had the advantage over one of your warriors… and you say that I won't be able to win my next fight?" The briefest semblance of a smile went across Sephiroth's face as the Emperor continued to gaze at the SOLDIER.

"Fool." Mateus made an exasperated shake of his head, "If you think we'd be so foolish as to always announce our presence, and fight in fair one-on-one fights against a lone traveler, then you have no real understanding of the Chaos Warriors."

A smile crept along the Emperor's face, "The Chaos Warriors have no restraint, no ethnics, no honor, no restrictions… if you hope to truly overcome us, you must release yourself from the restraints we distance ourselves from."

Sephiroth flinched at what the Emperor had just suggested he do, Sephiroth would not… could not… sink to their level.

"I see the defiance in your face, Sephiroth." Mateus tilted his head to the left, giving an amused smile, "I enjoy seeing how'll manage to fight against us while holding on to meaningless honor."

With that, the Emperor teleported out.

* * *

**Enjoy and review.**


	14. Ground Zero

**Procastination FTW! Now we see what College mid-terms do to my free time. Ah well.**

**Here we go with the next chapter, sorry this took like a week and a half or so, i'm used to coming up with something faster then this... at the very least, I was able to refine this for a bit longer then usual.**

**Disclaimer: I ain't Square-Enix.**

* * *

Galuf made his offense, spinning around, he sliced straight through the chest of a Magitek Armor, then raised his sword to block the attack of a Gestalt footman. The footman's sword fell onto his own weapon, and the footman tried to push, but he lacked the strength of fighting battle after battle of endless battle like Galuf had, even with damaged memory his instincts hadn't faded.

With a swift motion, Galuf raised his sword up, repelling the Gestalt footman's attempt, and made a downward slice across the soldier. Without even checking the extent of the damage he inflicted, Galuf immediately turned around, and his sword caught a blast of electricity generated from Terra. The blast flew off of his sword, going straight up toward the ceiling.

The blast struck and flowed over the ceiling, the entire room shuddered as miniscule bits of rock dislodged from the top of the room.

Nothing to note yet, but Galuf briefly felt a small drilling effect in his gut about the possibility of a cave-in. Though the two Magitek Armor that came from behind him took precedence over everything else.

* * *

The shudder hadn't been limited to the room, however, as it was also felt just slightly above them. Garland's offense toward Jecht was briefly halted as the floor he was standing on shook for a moment. He quickly looked around the room, but saw nothing that would have likely caused a small tremor… and then he suddenly flew forward. Garland felt a searing pain across his back, burning him up as he flew forward, right past Jecht, he regained his equilibrium before he landed, and managed to flip himself around, causing his feet to land firmly on the wall of the room he was in.

He crouched down on the wall before the momentum stopped, but then he straightened up and jumped back, turning his head up to see where he was looking at, and so he could see his assailant.

He couldn't see him immediately, however, as Jecht moved his sword across his field of vision, apparently expecting Garland to injure himself by flying directly into it. Garland simply swatted the sword away with his left arm, an action that had the added effect of knocking Jecht off-balance and out of the way entirely, allowing Garland to see the attacker… Kefka?

Garland flew forward as Kefka launched a blast of ice at him, clearly the first blow wasn't a mis-aim on his part… a swing of Garland's sword shattered the chunk of ice into a thousand harmless pieces, and the he flew forward, his left hand out-stretched, and grabbed Kefka by the neck.

"I hope you had a good reason for that." Garland's grip slightly tightened around the clown's neck, seeming as if he could snap it at any time. "Not that you act like a creature capable of reason."

"I… I will have my favorite toy back, Garland." Kefka struggled against Garland's grip, but the reality was that a mage wasn't going to break a warrior's grip. Yet maybe if the mage offered a bit of magic to his resistance…

The point became moot after a moment when Garland swung around and tossed Kefka across the air, ungracefully crashing into Jecht, who had been just starting to stand up.

"This is your second insubordination Kefka, do not test my good humor with a third." Garland marched forward, his sword dragging across the ground behind him, stopping about ten feet from Kefka and Jecht, both starting to get up. "I want you to take care of Jecht, I shall determine Terra's location."

"Why should I do as you say?" Kefka's fingers crackled with electricity, scowling at Garland, oblivious to the risen blitzball ace behind him.

Kefka might have made another charge at Garland… but Garland's weapon morphed into an axe, with an angry scowl, Kefka got the message and turned around to Jecht, a blue Ultima orb flaring into existence in his palm.

Garland, on the other hand, heaved his axe above him, and swung down, the blade of the axe connecting to the ground, creating a massive crack around the impact point… the cracks extended to the base Garland was standing on, and with a sudden shake, the foundation crumbled under his feet. Garland fell through the hole… the earlier tremor had come from Terra, which means that by logic she was below him.

Jecht swung at Kefka's back, only for the clown to quickly jump forward and flip around in the air, landing squarely on his feet, face toward Jecht.

Jecht leaned his to the side, loosening his grip on his sword to get the chance to crack his fingers, which had grown stiff as of late. "So Garland thought an ace wasn't worth his time…" Jecht made a sigh out loud, eyeing up his new opponent, "But really, he left me with the half-time entertainment?"

A chuckle escaped Jecht's mouth, Kefka remained silent, and closed his eyes, and then opened them again, a look of sadistic glee gracing them. "Hmm? Your assessment of me over? Good." Even if his favorite toy wasn't his right now, he could have some fun with this brute.

"I hate self-justified brutes only slightly less then goody-two-shoes, I'll have you know." Kefka raised his hand up, revealing the blue Ultima orb again, "I suppose you don't know what I did to General Leo… I'll just show you first hand!

Kefka shot the Ultima Orb several feet forward, only for Jecht to cross the distance and a very unexpected speed and slice the orb in two with his sword. Another swing came from him, intending to slice through Kefka, only for Kefka to jump straight up into the air… and hang. Simply floating up in the air, Kefka unleashed a blast of fire straight for Jecht, who leapt back from the attack, the ground between them scorching to a fine black.

Jecht smirked suddenly, and charged forward again, his sword arm ready, the front of him was suddenly coating by some strange red energy. Jecht jumped up and lunged forward at Kefka, he thrust forward, falling into a spinning attack, only for the attack to miss as Kefka jumped to the side. Kefka would have countered right there, except that when Jecht reached the wall, he spun his body so that he landed his feet against the wall, and rebounded back at Kefka, once again making a spinning thrust, going straight into Kefka's back.

A shrill cry escaped Kefka as Jecht's attack forced Kefka forward, until at last the attack ended suddenly, hurtling Kefka beyond Jecht's reach, yet even through the sudden pain. Kefka still managed to turn around in the air and fire a blast of electricity toward Jecht, which struck dead-on on the chest.

Thus both combatants fell back onto the ground in clumsy positions, though Kefka was clearly the one who had suffered more.

The fight was not over just yet, Kefka picked himself back up to a standing position with his magic, and Jecht sprung up with just a single movement. Charging forward with an intended swing, Jecht's sword instead had electricity flow into it from Kefka's hands, yet for all the pain it would have caused to the common man, it only elected a small cringe from Jecht's face, and his charge advanced, and the edge of Jecht's sword went into Kefka.

Feeling the pressure of the blow, Kefka falls back through the air, tumbling for a moment, but stops himself and begins to float above the ground, a crackle of fire begins to appear over him… but then it fizzes out.

As it disappears, the room they're in begins to rumble, more then hard enough to break the concentration of both combatants. A deep rumbling sound, coming from… below.

* * *

The fight between Galuf, Terra, and the Gestalt Soldiers was put on a slight hold at as a distinctive sound came from overhead, a sound of breaking stone. Galuf turned his gaze upward, taking a moment to marvel at the sheer height of this room, and then noticed a hole that had been punched right into the ceiling, and falling out of the hole is…

Garland. The knight's axe converted from an axe back to a sword as he witnessed the room he had broken into was the excavation, he also noticed that he had found what he was looking for, but his attention was more drawn to the massive chunk of crystal taking up the side of one room.

Lodged deep within the crystal was the power that Mateus had sought, something from his world, called the "Ultima Tome". The Tome was no larger then a typical book, it seemed almost ridiculous that the enormous chunk of crystal was being used to house just that single item. Yet according to Mateus, it took extraordinary power to keep it sealed, something more powerful then the "Cyclone" Mateus sometimes talked about.

Garland took his eyes off the Tome and directed his attention back to the floor, twisting himself upright allowing himself to land on his feet.

"What th-" Galuf stammered as Garland fell to the ground directly in front of him.

The sudden stop resulted in him initially falling into a kneeling position before getting back up. With virtually no delay, Garland swing his sword across his field of vision, inciting Galuf to suddenly drop back.

Garland was in a hunched battle position for a moment, but then it registered on him that Galuf had his back to the excavation, a certain finesse was in order. Garland straightened himself to a more standard standing position, and raised an arm into the air, giving a stand-down order to the Gestalt soldiers and Terra, and made a harmless thrust towards Galuf with his free arm, a wordless gesture to insinuate that Garland could crush the old man any time he pleased.

Which, of course, he could. There was just the small quirk in the fact that he had been instructed to not let anything happen to the excavation, at best he could try to bluff Galuf into stepping away from the mass of crystals. His fighting style had a tendency to cause particularly massive collateral damage.

"You have no hope to win in your situation…" Garland spoke with an authentic evenness, even though he was in a worse position then he looked, Garland had no true fear. Never. "Surrender, and I'll go as far as to return you to your allies. Your role in this war is not yet over."

Galuf's eyes flittered around the room, examining the situation before him, two Chaos Warriors, and soldiers he had never seen before today… deep beneath the ground in a mine, his back against a massive crystal, it was not a desirable situation by any means.

Fighting his way out was likely impossible, yet he had no faith that Garland would keep his word on his deal, therefore the best choice was… go out with a bang.

Galuf made a charge forward, catching Garland off-guard, the knight had most certainly expected a more rational decision, though he could admire the fearlessness. What troubled Garland the most, was Terra's response to the charge, she charged a blast of Thundaga, but when she fired at Galuf he dodged, and the lightning struck against the crystal.

Not troubling in of itself, but the Gestalt soldiers followed suit, the M-Tek lasers from the Magitek Armors fired wildly, perhaps blindly, all the blasts went in Galuf's general direction, but few came even moderately close to the target, instead, many went right past him and struck at the base of the crystal… completely…

Completely destroying the foundation. The enormous chunk of crystal toppled over as it now lacked the ability to stand up straight, and the massive wall of crystal had only one way to fall, right onto the combatants. There was zero chance to dodge, the huge block wall landed right on top of them, splintering as it landed, breaking, shattering, shrapnel flew every which way… and the Ultima Tome was free.

Free… but not in the way it was supposed to be. Even as the combatants began to wearily get back to their feet, the Ultima Tome was in motion, having been broken free from the confines of it's crystal prison, the Tome levitated in the air… and then a small pulse of electricity erupted from it.

The Ultima Tome, one of the greatest powers in all the worlds, was unstable. It certainly wasn't supposed to be knocked around like that, Garland reached a unsteady arm towards the Tome, even though he was half the room away, it's not like magic was consistent or all that understandable in the first place, such sacred powers even more incomprehensible… the Warriors were left only to stare at the Tome for a moment, and then it exploded.

The forgotten power of antiquity erupted with power those surrounding it could not have foreseen, a shockwave broke apart the ground to start it off, and then the true explosion began, ripping apart the already damaged ground, and continuing in all directions outside off the original nucleus that the Tome itself had once resided in. It took only a few seconds for the explosion to completely cover the room, trapping the combatants in an inferno.

* * *

_Feeling the pressure of the blow, Kefka falls back through the air, tumbling for a moment, but stops himself and begins to float above the ground, a crackle of fire begins to appear over him… but then it fizzes out._

_As it disappears, the room they're in begins to rumble, more then hard enough to break the concentration of both combatants. A deep rumbling sound, coming from… below._

The rumbling grew greater in it's intensity, forcing both fighters to lose interest in the other. With a few mutters of confusion, Jecht felt an increase in heat on the rocks he was standing on, and then… it was like something was pounding on the rocks beneath him, and he suddenly lost his footing as the foundation of the ground was lost.

Fire erupted from beneath both fighters, engulfing them in a blast of power greater then anything Kefka could muster, or Adel, or Terra, maybe even the Emperor…

* * *

Narshe stood peaceful above ground, but the sudden tremor would be the town's final gasp, as the explosion that started far in the underground reached the surface, ripping apart the town, blowing the buildings to pieces and incinerating the locales not immediately destroyed by the display, eventually, what was left was left of the mine entrance was effectively just a giant crater, and the town itself had fallen into a state it could never recover from…

Rubble and debris was strewn as far as the eyes could see, except for the slightest signs of life.

To their credit, the Warriors of Cosmos, and the Warriors of Chaos, minus the Gestalt soldiers, survived. Buried under rubble, but alive, and rubble alone was a minor annoyance to them at this point.

The only one not buried was Terra, who had fallen into a fairly undamaged clearing, a weak moan escaped her unconscious lips, the slave crown that had been earlier wrapped around her head lay a few inches from her hand, ripped to pieces from the force it had just been introduced to.

Yet this blessing would not alone stop her from continuing to be a pawn to Chaos. With a sudden flash, Exdeath appeared. He would have towered over her even if she was standing, but lying down only made the difference in size all the more apparent. The nihilistic knight reached an arm out, and at once Terra's body began to levitate and be drawn toward his outstretched hand, firmly grasping her lower back, he made one final look over the scene before him, and then turned and teleported away, with the Esper-girl.

* * *

**Shall be continued.**


	15. To Manipulate An Esper

**A bit shorter, this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, it's all owned by Triangle-Enix. ...er, Rectangle-Enix? Circle-Enix? Octagon-Enix? What was I talking about?**

* * *

"So the retrieval was a success, just as I predicted."

Mateus stared down at Terra's unconscious form. To his side stood Exdeath and Gabranth, taking part in overseeing the unconscious Esper's captivity. Officially there to prevent a violent escape if she awakened, unofficially, they were there so that the voice talking to Adel could manage to finally convince her to a… plan.

Mateus held out a hand, a blue pulse began to spawn from it, a blue orb hovered in his hand, before ascending into the air above him, changing in size so that it was nearly as large as a man. Then a bolt of red electricity came out of the bottom, weaving it's way downward, until it struck Terra on her gut.

Even unconscious, she let out a sudden moan of pain and began convulsing violently, turning from one side of the other, her moans fading into painful screams.

"Kefka has no more hold over you, but the days of servitude are not yet over." Mateus grinned as the blue orb descended to a level height to his head. "Any subconscious resistance is futile, I shall break you as I broke Leon. You will know a new glory, as my servent…"

The bolt of electricity became more fierce, whipping around rapidly, enough to make both Exdeath and Gabranth take several uncomfortable steps back, Mateus stood where he was, only letting out a cackle.

"Fear not, Esper, you will have but one task, then you will be surrendered to the empty bliss of freedom. Free… free to lose your way, free to doubt, to self-deprecate, the freedom you secretly desire in your heart will bring you only misery and doubt, and you shall have it."

The electricity suddenly stopped, and with it, Terra's body began calming down, though even unconscious, she was panting in exhaustion, and then the blue orb descended further, further down, until it eventually enveloped her body… and entered it. The convulsions began again, this time far more violently, it was a wonder the pain didn't bring her back to consciousness, whatever the source of the explosion that destroyed the Narshe mines was, it had to have been extremely powerful, and magical, to effectively seal the conscious mind like this.

Gabranth was slightly disgusted by what he saw. In many ways, he had hatred for most things around him, yet this was putrid, even to him. As Judge Magister, he was an upholder of the law, even to enemy soldiers this would have been a bit much. This was Kefka's henchman- henchgirl, a subordinate, but a person all the same.

Gabranth mentally kicked himself and remembered the fact that his "allies" had looser morals then him, _much_ looser morals. To them, there was nothing wrong with this.

After about half a minute, Terra finally settled down on the floor of the Edge of Madness, Mateus smirked, though Gabranth and Exdeath did not entirely understand just what he had done to her. That wasn't any mind-control spell they had ever seen…

* * *

The rubble of Narshe was strewn all around the landscape, the mines were completely clogged with dislodged stones, though it really wasn't much of a "mine" anymore. Just a debris sealed tunnel heading down to what was, at this point, a giant room, created by the explosion, with the bottom 1/3 of the room covered with the debris.

Yet there is one movement at the bottom of the room, a few pieces of rock on the left side of the room were moving slightly. A small tremble, a quiver, and then it shot upward as a hand punched skyward. The hand moved to the right and dug it's fingers into a nearby, sturdier rock, with a firm grip, the hand and the arm connected to it pulled the main body up, dragged Garland into sight.

Garland shook his head, removing some of the smaller pebbles that were resting in the little alcoves across his helmet. As for his cape… he might as well not have one, after the explosion, his cape had been torn off, only a small line of fabric remained at the top, there would be no telling where the pieces had fallen, and it's not like he was going to search for them.

At the very least, his grip on his sword had remained firm, it was a grip that almost couldn't be broken, the sword was basically a part of him.

For right now, his attention had to be focused on getting out of here… easier said then done. Garland looked up, he would have to ascend about half a mile to reach the tunnel leading out, and then remove the rocks clogging up that hole… it would be long and tedious, he couldn't jump that kind of height, perhaps he could just use his sword to plow through the wall and make an upward path for him, but that would take even longer…

The Ultima Tome was quite the spell to be able to do something like this, Garland stopped and pondered for a moment how it would stack up to some of the other "ultimate powers", every Chaos Warrior seemed to invariably swear by one great power or another, not that it ever seems to save them in the end.

* * *

Sephiroth walked on, his expression a typical stormy one. He had long been debating the Emperor's statement about "not surviving" if he held to any honor. It's not as if he had yet encountered something from the side of Chaos that had bested him, though Kefka did manage to strike a few good blows in. Still…

Sephiroth shook the thought from his mind, any thinking he did about it now would just make foster doubt in his mind, and make him lose the vital edge of conviction and fearlessness. He was capable by himself, but without anyone to aid him, he had to be ready at all times, mentally as well as physically. He strode on, when suddenly everything changed around him.

Earlier he been in Esthar again, the same place he had been at when he attacked Exdeath to assist Shantotto and Richard, yet it was changing, the sky above him, once blue, changed to red, the bridges of Esthar were… melting, yes, melting, even the ground beneath him, yet he did not fall, he simply floated above the ground.

Sephiroth looked around in confusion, there was no way to tell what was going on as the world dissolved around him… and then he was back on solid ground again. Sephiroth felt another helping of confusion, he was on the roof of the Chaos Temple, the strange portal circling overhead, but that wasn't all, there were other beings around him.

Sephiroth's eyes narrowed as he studied the shapes, many different kinds of soldiers, though he knew the identity of none of them. Gestalt Soldiers, Esthar Soldiers, Archadian Soldiers, and Palamecian soldiers as far as the eye could see, and they were converging on him, forming a firm circle around him.

Sephiroth paused for a moment, and summoned his sword into his hand, after a silent moment, the Masamune appeared in a flash of light, and he assumed his distinctive battle stance, if this was really what he couldn't survive by fighting with honor, then he might have to fight the impulse to laugh… then he noticed the sheer amount of soldiers surrounding him. Legion, en mass, more then enough to make him have to take a deep breath before this began.

* * *

_Prepare, Adel. Your time has come, I will give you the chance to take power from both Garland and Mateus._

Adel stood silently in her chamber, listening intently to the voice that had continued to speak to her, an offering of an opportunity on the unseen voice's lips.

If this was true, then she was about to make the others suffer for every degrading thing that had happened to her. Adel shut her eyes, the voice emanated as her mind painted vivid pictures of Kefka's brutal death and Mateus' horrible torture, all be her hands. She could even see Chaos becoming a peon before her… the voice had long spoken of power beyond power.

_Move to the throne of Chaos, take the Esper girl, I shall give you further instructions then._

Terra looked almost innocent now, peacefully unconscious before Chaos' throne. The god wasn't present at it right now, both Gabranth and Exdeath had already left to pursue other assignments, leaving Mateus overseeing Terra by himself. He stood on the left, eyes lightly shut, reflecting on something…

"Ah, Laguna is approaching the Edge of Madness... just as I foresaw..." He smirked.

Then a sudden jolt flowed through him. He found himself flying forward, slamming directly into the arm-rest of Chaos' throne. He slumped onto it, before rolling to the right, landing on the ground by the throne.

"You are no longer needed, Mateus." Adel cried out, her body still surging with the magic she struck Mateus with. A supreme feeling of elation flowing through her, finally evening the score she felt she owed, and the others would also learn… in time.

"I'll take this useless girl now. She shall be put to much better use under me." Adel flashed a cruel smile as she bent down and grabbed Terra on her shoulder, lifting her up and hoisting the Esper on her shoulder. She turned around and began to leave, but stopped after a few steps to look over her shoulder toward the Emperor…

"This is only the beginning, Mateus. In time I shall strip the very flesh from your bones for the degradation you and the others put me through." Adel turned her head forward, and began her trek down the steps, just as the voice told her.

As she began walking down the steps, the Emperor picked himself back up to a standing position, removing the dust from his leggings with a sweeping motion, and let loose a loud booming laugh that didn't register on Adel.

"You're endgame has come Adel, enjoy your last moments in this cycle, while you can."

* * *

**Much to cover in the next few chapters, indeed.**

**...and please do review, couldn't take more then half a minute.**


	16. Sephiroth's Discovery

**Disclaimer: I own nothing...**

* * *

"You awake?" Richard shook Shantotto by the shoulder, though his grip nearly dragged her entire unconscious body along. She gave no obvious signs of waking up,

"Hey, Shantotto, you need to get up." He gave her a more exaggerated shake, and then a sudden burst of energy appeared, Richard suddenly found a Tarutaru hand charging a blast of Freeze pointing right at him. Commanding it was the angriest expression he had ever seen from the little mage.

"I trust there was a good reason for this… otherwise it's a face full of the magic on my fist." Shantotto got up to a standing position and took a few steps away from Richard, threatening him for a moment, but then calmed down when the area around her registered. "Wait, where is we? I don't remember paying the entry fee."

"A Palamecian dungeon cell, by the looks of it." Richard stood up, he had a… reluctant understanding of them. " I thought we were winning that battle." Richard shook his head, the last memory was of a sudden pain in his back… then he realized they had left Gabranth unattended.

"We need to get out of here…" Richard looked toward the cell door, fully barricaded, typical. With pure force it was almost impossible to escape from the inside. His spear was gone anyway, they had confiscated it, they had taken Shantotto's little wand too, but a Mage was a little less dependent upon such things.

The problem there, was that Shantotto was going to try and magic her way out without actually knowing beforehand how a Palamecian cell worked. She walked in front of Richard and held her left arm out, a blast of Flare was generating on it, making Richard cringe at the knowledge of what Shantotto was trying to do.

"Shantotto, stop! Don't shoot tha-" too late. Shantotto fired the blast, and it struck the door… and bounced off. The thing about Palamecian dungeons is that they had defense against magical-based escapes, and the blast of Flare just continued to bounce from door to wall to floor to ceiling. Richard and Shantotto instinctively threw themselves on the ground as the Flare spell continued to ricochet around the room, until eventually, the spell out-lasted it's "life", and self-destructed, lighting up the whole room, but miraculously, didn't lay a finger on either of them.

"Don't do that again, Shantotto! The Emperor is good at preventing escapes he doesn't want to happen." Richard got up from the ground and lowered himself into a sitting position on the floor. "The only way you'll ever escape a Palamecian dungeon is for a friend to unlock the cell door."

"Wow, looks like he's better then the Shadow Lord, with him escapes would just leave you bored." Shantotto patted the ground next to her, taking a closer look at the materials it was made of.

"Shadow… what?" Richard turned to look at Shantotto, he hadn't talked to very many of the others at length in this war, but it always annoyed him whenever they referenced something from their world… unless it was Chocobos, every world seemed to have those.

"Oh, right, the Shadow Lord, I fought against his army in the Great Crystal War, those battles had a lot of gore."

"You speak in the past tense… this Shadow Lord is… gone, then?" Richard drew silent as Shantotto turned around and gave him a look that answered his question enough. Richard sighed and looked away, "Evil will never stay put, will it?"

* * *

Laguna scanned the area around him, wherever he was… the ground looked like it was made out of hardened lava, not to mention the lava that fell from the skies, it didn't take an expert to tell that he was deep in Chaos territory. Every few seconds he felt his skin crawl, an impulse of disorder, he guessed. Right now he wasn't in a thinking mood. Shantotto and Richard had been captured, and he still couldn't believe that Esthar soldiers were fighting for Chaos, it had to be a… a trick, or something.

"Oh, it seems an insect has snuck in." Laguna nearly jumped at the sound of the voice, turning around he saw Emperor Mateus standing before him, the position of his body, the tilt of his head, suggested a state of mild amusement. "Ah, and it looks like the most insignificant insect of them all."

"Where are they?" Laguna's voice came out as a growl, a level of frustration uncommon to the man, of course, he had been forced to run across the Dalmasca Estersand, up the Tower of Mysidia, and through the wilderness of Pulse to get there, and it wasn't a fun trip… to put it mildly.

"You must mean the mouthy one and the Dragoon…" the tilt of the Emperor's head became more pronounced as he seemed to remember something, "You'll find them in the dungeons under here. I'd hurry down there if I were you, I wouldn't want them to think they've been abandoned."

"Shut up!" Laguna yelled back at Mateus, apparently it was enough to make the smirk on his face lessen ever so slightly. "Just tell me where to find them, or I'll-"

"Ah, such fire." the humor seemed to drain from his face as he evaluated Laguna's expression, "I wonder if it will allow you to ride out what's about to happen…"

Mateus cracked another smirk at the sight of confusion crossing Laguna's face, which quickly solidified into anger again. "If you are so upset by our taking of your allies, please direct your frustration towards Adel, she's becoming increasingly annoying." Mateus lifted his right arm up, scepter in hand, and struck down, the floor shifted under him for a moment, and then it split open, a massive chasm began to form, separating Laguna and Mateus.

"Those two are underneath us in the prisons, you might want to hurry, I hear Adel is approaching their cell." Mateus raised his scepter again, and when he brought it down this time, the ground Laguna was standing on slanted and he lost his footing, suddenly he slipped off his feet entirely and he began falling down towards to the gaping mouth of the chasm. He raised his gun up towards Mateus, yet only fired a few scant bullets, all wildly off-target, before he disappeared into the darkness below.

* * *

Sephiroth quietly observed as the Masamune tore through the shoulder of an Esthar soldier, but had no time to contemplate anything as he felt a sudden sharp pain mow across his back. With a silent curse, Sephiroth turned around and drove the Masamune across the chest of an Arcadian soldier, without even stopping to confirm the death of the Arcadian, Sephiroth flowed to the left and his sword impaled a Gestalt trooper through the chest.

He attempted to catch his breath for a second, only for a Magitek Armor's M-Tek laser to slam into his back, the feeling of incineration was an excruciating feeling… but it was only a sample of what he had endured during this battle.

It had gone on so long, he was basically fighting on top of the corpses of fallen enemies, yet still they came, endless, unlimited, nothing seemed to stop their charge. No fear or hesitation, the Emperor's hold over them was obvious, and the Emperor's words from the last time they met still resonated in his mind.

_The Chaos Warriors have no restraint, no ethnics, no honor, no restrictions… if you hope to truly overcome us, you must release yourself from the restraints we distance ourselves from._

Sephiroth was jolted back to the present as a Palamecian soldier descended on him, with his own sword in hand, he never got the chance to swing as Sephiroth brought the Masamune across the soldiers face… the helm was the only thing that kept putrid gore from being born at that moment.

Sephiroth gasped for breath, the fighting had been going on for hours now, and these weren't just the same untrained groups he annihilated as a part of SOLDIER… though he could take large numbers of these every enemies without any noticeable trouble, the numbers that were coming at him now were…

Sephiroth's train of thought was stopped when an Esthar soldier attacked him from behind, he felt the wind generated by the soldier's weapon as it narrowly missed his back, Sephiroth spun around and ended the soldier's life with a slash across the neck. He was given no time to relax, though, as a sharp pain flowed through his back, he twisted his head around to see an Arcadian with a sword moving by him, small hints of black garb on the sword itself. Reflexively Sephiroth slash vertically and silenced the soldier forever, and had his mind suddenly taken off the pain in his back by a new pain in his shoulder, an Esthar soldier had moved his weapon against Sephiroth, he turned to face his attacker, but had to suddenly spin to the left when he sensed an attack coming from behind, he only narrowly avoided a Gestalt soldier's attempt to run him through, he braced himself against his attackers for a moment when a sudden sneak attack against his left leg by a Palamecian soldier crippled his movement.

This went on for only a few minutes, but must have felt like an hour to the silver-haired swordsman, he was out-numbered, and their numbers were clearly prevailing. A fact brought to the forefront as an Arcadian reached out and grabbed his shoulder and attempted to force Sephiroth to the ground, Sephiroth managed to elbow the soldier through his armor, making him lose his grip, but to no avail, three more sets of arms suddenly grabbed him on his back, two sets belonging to Esthar soldiers, and the third to a Gestalt, without much resistance he was flung to the ground on his face.

Sephiroth made an attempt to get up, swinging the Masamune around him, it was enough to make his attackers back away for a moment, Sephiroth tried to stand back up, but only got to his knees before they attacked again. The exhaustion was setting in, within a few seconds he had fallen along the ground again, he felt more weight piling up on him as more soldiers surged upon him, his arms and legs were held firmly in place, for a moment he considered surrendering to death, what with the hopelessness of the situation… and then they were gone.

Sephiroth found himself lying on his back, a quick glance around confirmed that his enemies were gone. For a moment he contemplated that he had gone mad, then he tried to move the rest of his body, all the damage to his body was still there, with a groan he pulled himself up to a sitting position, his body was not amused by what he just did, with the adrenaline of the moment fading he was becoming acutely aware of the extent of the damage to his body.

After a moment Sephiroth realized he was no longer in at the Chaos Shrine… he was inside a stone castle. The walls were lit with torches that illuminated the red carpet, this was Castle Fynn. Though, while it was once a bastion against Mateus in it's own world, he had worked it into his own quarters during the war, separate from the Edge of Madness.

This was clearly the Throne Room, two separate thrones were at the end of this room, yet the most noticeable thing about the throne room were the books. Shelves and shelves of books lined the walls of the room, just one look at their coloring told Sephiroth that their inclusion in the room wasn't part of the natural world, it must have been something that the Chaos Warriors came up with, so many places had become bases for them.

A small brown desk and chair was in the flat middle of the room, a single book was also present on it. Even with his body howling in protest, Sephiroth got to his feet and limped toward the desk and took a look at the book, no picture design, there was only a title…

_An Inquiry On The Nature of The Two Gods_

Sephiroth tilted his head in curiosity at the title, then his eyes scrolled down to the lower middle of the front of the book…

_Authored By Emperor Mateus_

Sephiroth twitched for a moment before reaching over and grabbing the book, sitting down in the nearby chair, he laid the book back down on the desk and opened it, before he began reading he looked over at the shelves around him, each book's name was somewhat similar to the book he had just opened, and he took notice that over half the books seemed to have the word "Cycle" in their title.

With a vague, but distinct feeling in his gut, that told him something important was in these books, Sephiroth began reading the book on the table before him.

* * *

Laguna finally landed on solid ground, it looked like just a bottomless chasm, but over time light began to pour in from below, it had soon become clear that he was in a shaft of some sort, and it had just ended. It looked like he was in a military complex of some sort, he could see Palamecian soldiers all over the place, lost in their patrols, they didn't seem to notice him… not that he was in plain sight or anything. He was in a darkened alcove slightly off the beaten path, apparently darkened enough that they dismissed him as a simple collection of strange shadows when they peered in his direction.

He slowly stalked forward a few steps, and quickly ducked behind a pillar, completely obscuring him from sight, one Palamecian walked right by him, oblivious to his presence. Once he had passed, Laguna darted back out, dashing forward, only with moderate speed for the sake of remaining silent, and rounded a corner before ducking behind another pillar. He leaned to the side and peered in the direction he wanted to go, there weren't any soldiers at all, just a moment ago the patrols were all over the place, and now they had practically disappeared. Could it be that this was a less important part of the compound? No, impossible, he was clearly approaching the area the cells themselves were, it was more like this place was being intentionally avoided…

* * *

The rubble of Narshe remained un-moved, Garland was still finding his way out from underground, and the debris on the surface littered the landscape, the eruption of the Ultima Tome had caused such damage that it looked like the town had been abandoned and untended for centuries, _and_ had been at the epicenter of just about every single earthquake in the history of all worlds.

Then, one of the rocks near the remains of the Inn shifted slightly, rolling over onto it's side, after a moment it was clear that the rock was being moved by something. After a moment of stillness, the rock was pushed up, a thick muscular arm appeared from underneath the rock, and a few moments later, the rest of Jecht came up. He groaned and shook his head, _that_ was something he could have lived without. He pushed the rock out of his field of vision and managed to stand up, the pile of rubble he was under was relatively small, everything above his knees was now above the rubble, he stepped out onto the ground, there was almost no snow now, the explosion had seen to that.

Jecht glanced around for only a moment… and then he heard a horrid scream. Yet, slightly muffled at the same time. Suddenly rocks shot upward from across the town, Jecht took notice as large chunks of debris sailed right up into the air, and then he heard another scream.

Across the town, Kefka began to stand up, having just outright blasted the rocks that were keeping him pinned down. He finally straightened himself up, he clenched his fists and glanced around with a feral manic look in his eyes.

"I hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate this!" Kefka screamed his frustrations out to no one in particular, "Are all worlds conspiring against me? I _must_ have the toy back!"

Kefka seethed for a moment, continuing to glare around him, as if he was looking for something, but then began to fade out, teleporting away, it was unlikely that there was anything else for him here. He could already sense that Terra was gone, and he didn't care enough to sense where Garland was.

After a few minutes the screeching screams had stopped, Jecht was just about to vocally voice his happiness over that fact when something else struck him.

"Galuf!" He looked around with a sudden urgency, "Hey, old man! Where are you?"

He began to pace around what remained of Narshe, looking for any sign of his comrade…

* * *

**Review please.**


	17. Escape

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**EDIT: I had to remove one line at the end of the fic, because it contradicted an earlier fact about Adel that had been established in the first chapter.**

* * *

Laguna was able to walk much more freely now, the guards had effectively disappeared. There must have been extreme confidence in their patrols in what had been the entrance to the prison, because there was literally no one guarding the actual cells here.

The cells themselves were sealed completely. The interior of the cells could only be seen through the bars on the upper middle of the cell door, the area in-between the bars themselves had a thin white sheet covering them, Laguna had seen enough in his days to see that it was some kind of magic barrier, though he wasn't in any rush to test the strength of the barrier.

The cells truly showed no sign of actual use, though they seemed to be kept fairly clean, the signs of use were so non-existent that Laguna was beginning to suspect that Mateus had been lying about Richard and Shantotto being down here… he was a Chaos Warrior, it would be normal to think that they would do that.

His thoughts were interrupted with the sound of distant voices. Coming from in front of him, but off in the distance, well, a bit early to call them voices, just sounds that his ear had managed to zero in on. They were distinctively familiar sounds, no doubt there. Laguna continued his walk forward, it was nothing but a long hallway through the stone compound, the sounds were getting louder, yes, they were indeed words, and now the speakers of the words was also evident, he had found them.

There was only one little problem, there was a single Palamecian here, right in front of the door to their cell. Well, a problem taken care of easily enough. In the form of a spray of bullets.

Laguna simply pointed, the Palamecian heard the distinctive clicking noise and suddenly turned toward the source of the sound, yet that wasn't quite good enough to keep him alive. After a short barrage, he had fallen down on the ground.

"What was that sound?" Richard, from inside the cell, sprung up from his prone position at the sound of gunshots. Guns did not exist in his world, but he was familiar with them through Laguna. He ran up to the cell door, though he kept his distance from the bars themselves, not wanting to agitate the explosive magic trip wire that took the shape of the transparent white sheet.

Close enough to peer through the bars, he could let out a breath of relief at the sight of an ally, albeit, not one whose fighting ability and competence he had seen first-hand.

"Laguna, how did you-"

"Cosmos told me you were in trouble. Hold on, I'll deal with the door." Laguna took a look over the door's lock, it certainly wasn't the fanciest lock in the world… actually, it was more of a simple it-can't-be-opened-from-the-inside lock, the handle offered no resistance as he turned it and pulled the door back.

"You're a life-saver when you need to be one, Lag-"

Richard's sentence was ended before it's conclusion by a sudden magic blast that struck between him and the door, making him fall back from the suddenness of it. He sprang back to a fighting stance, even without his spear he was willing to fight, only for a certain Tarutaru to walk by him.

"Ladies first." Shantotto spoke in an overly smug tone as she exited the cell, an aggravating personality, but on some level, Richard was thankful she didn't rhyme this time.

"You know, you gotta love the extent of the pre-cautions these people take, your weapons are right here." Laguna pointed to the nearby wall directly to the left of the cell door, a spear and a staff were leaning against it, "It's like escape is what they wanted to happen."

"Knowing Mateus, I bet that's exactly it." Richard grabbed his spear and swiftly slung it onto his back, "The Emperor makes plot, upon plot, upon deception, I thought the Dragoons were beating his army, but then he-"

Richard was forced to stop himself as the ground beneath him began to shake. Once, twice, he began to feel himself losing his balance, the look of shock on the faces of his two allies showed that he wasn't going crazy. After a moment, the rumbling was supplemented by massive blasts of light, Richard could feel his eyes water with each blast, enough that he eventually had to close his eyes and cover them with his arm.

He could… feel… the ground beneath him feel like it was shifting, moving, after a moment he opened his eyes…

He was no longer in the prison. This place, he didn't recognize it at all.

"Where are we?" Richard attempted to examine the place further.

"That didn't feel like any teleport I've ever been on. We certainly haven't winded up on someone's lawn."

"Is this… the Lunatic Pandora?" Laguna stared toward the area around him, the familiar design of the Lunatic Pandora all around him, the somewhat ethereal look of his surroundings proved it. He might have had a flood of memories, but a bolt of magic shook him out of that train of thought.

"Welcome to your future, Laguna. What little is left of it."

Laguna spun around, there was Adel, the obvious source of their sudden teleportation, and to the left of her…

To the left of her was the Esper-girl, and she was trapped in some kind of magical cage, blue lines of Sorceress magic confined her. She was unconscious, though she retained her white form.

Adel held out her hand toward the Esper, and began to draw energy, even unconscious, she managed to moan in agony as her magic was siphoned into Adel.

"I had never known that this girl possessed such a power in her, indeed, I would have remained ignorant… if a certain ally had not appeared." Adel drained another round of energy from the girl, a cruel grin extending over her face.

_Yes, Adel, take the power, through that girl you will be granted a power even the Emperor could only dream… and she is only the first of such sources of power I shall lead you towards._

Adel's grin grew wider… to the point it looked like the teeth of a skull, she threw her right arm forward, with an open palm, a blast of white energy flew from the palm. The blast grew increasingly larger as it approached Laguna, Richard, and Shantotto… and then it dispersed on a green Wall spell.

Laguna made a look back, Shantotto didn't necessarily need to speak to cast a spell, for which he was thankful, he doubted the Wall could have gone up in time otherwise.

Adel's grin didn't go down in the slightest, and brought her other arm up, a more powerful blast was shot out, and the Wall offered almost no resistance, shattering like glass against Adel's attack, and the three had no chance to make a reaction before the attack reached them.

A pain beyond comprehension flowed through them, it was pain beyond what normal physical means could produce, only magic could harm both the material and the spiritual of a person like this… and only someone as warped as a Chaos Warrior would take pleasure in casting such a spell.

The three fell to their knees suddenly, but it took only a moment for them to spring back up, as if almost nothing happened, with only a few tears and cuts, Shantotto's Renew spell worked wonders as well. It didn't bother Adel at all, even as the three began a charging offense.

Richard ran with the intention of skewering her, while Laguna and Shantotto ran slower, utilizing their different styles of long-range combat, yet for every projectile that came close, small orbs of magical blue light appeared to block the attack, leaving Adel unscathed. Richard managed to close the distance, only for Adel to raise her hand again, no magic this time, instead a gust of wind was released, a gust which the strength of had been chosen to perfectly stop Richard's movement, not push him back.

Adel let loose a demented laugh as Richard stood only a few steps from her, straining against the wind and unable to push himself any further. Adel raised her free hand, absorbing more power from the Esper-girl, and then increased the power in the wind, Richard's boots scraped along the ground as he was slowly dragged back, but before she was given the chance to gloat, Adel heard something…

"Quake!" The orb of Shantotto's staff turned to the color of Earth as the ground in front of her splintered, a massive crack formed, heading right towards Adel, moving _right_ beside Richard, right up to the edge of Adel's space before she sprung into action.

Adel disengaged the arm that was firing wind towards Richard so that she could use it to neutralize Shantotto's attempt to cast her into the underground. With a simple gesture from her, Adel saw Shantotto's attack stop, and turned just in time to see that, with the wind stopped, Richard had resumed his attack, He zoomed forward, spear in hand, and swiftly slashed across Adel's gut.

Richard moved past her, then turned around and made another slash down her back before Adel's position shifted, teleporting only a few feet away. She turned to face Richard, her smile having faded only slightly, as she raised her arms and absorbed even more power from the Esper-girl.

"Fool. Did you think that would hurt me?" Adel's grin grew back as she gestured to the wound on her gut… as it closed up. The faintest hint of magical smoke exuded from the spot for a moment, before it dissipated, she paused for a moment, before magical smoke came off her back, indicating that the wound along her back had been healed.

"My power is increasing every time I drain the Esper, it had even granted me control over White Magic." Adel gloated as Richard sunk into a fighting stance, she might of broken into another laugh, when her back felt sudden pain… tens of little pricks began to be felt all over her backside. She turned around to see Laguna, smoke coming out of the hole of his gun, she raised an arm up and fired another white blast, something Laguna easily dodged from, she was about to fire another at the fleeing gunman when Shantotto spoke again.

"Freeze!" Shantotto moved her arms as bits of magic appeared around them, but only a few shards appeared, it seemed unlikely that she thought such small pieces of ice could be used as an attack… and then Adel felt a sudden chill. She looked straight up, a huge chunk of ice was dangling right above her, and it came straight down almost immediately after she spotted it, Adel only smiled as she swung her left arm up, a massive Wall spell appeared, and the chunk of Freeze shattered across it. She chuckled as she took down the Wall, the bits of ice flew in all directions… but her expression soured for a moment when the shards suddenly stopped in the air, and flipped over, every little piece, so that the sharp ends were all pointing towards Adel.

The shards of ice flew at Adel, who quickly summoned another wall, but not fast enough, and a few pieces of ice got in, spearing into her body, it was a struggle to keep the Wall up, but if she let it down the remaining ice would come upon her.

The fact that she couldn't focus on using a White Magic spell gave Richard an opportunity, he dashed to her from behind, the Wall spell was only deflecting things from the front, sides, and above, and he easily managed to get to her back, and slashed diagonally, she felt pain beyond what she thought she would feel in this battle course through her, and in the suddenness and unexpectedness of Richard's attack, her arms wavered, and the Wall came down, and the shards of ice shot true.

Reflexively, Adel tried to incinerate the ice with a magic blast, but as she tried to move her arms, another series of bullets came from Laguna, the sudden small bits of pain stopped her from being able to think properly, and the ice came down on her.

She stumbled to her knees, panting hard as Richard cautiously approached her, yet he had taken nary two steps when Adel's head snapped up, and she threw her left arm to the left, and her right arm to the right. An explosion occurred, with Adel as the nucleus, Shantotto and Laguna were far outside of the attack's range, yet Richard was not so lucky, he attempted to jump back, but didn't jump nearly far enough, and was immolated by the blast.

The explosion finally settled down, Richard fell to the ground, but slowly began to get back up, Adel, on the other hand, had already returned to her feet. Her face was a scowl… but after a moment it melted to a more even expression.

"If you can do that kind of damage so quickly, it would be prudent to drain the Esper's energy much faster then this." Adel turned to face Terra, and the magic bars holding her dispersed, and she collapsed to the ground, Adel reached out a hand and Terra began to be pulled towards her large grip.

"I shall take all her power, you shall realize yourself to be the gnats you are." Adel's hand grabbed the Esper by the shoulder, and she moved her to the area directly in front of her. "Behold, the power of junction."

A massive flash of blinding light appeared, blinding everyone, any attempt to keep their eyes would probably cause permanent eye damage, it was so bright… yet it was not so bright as to shut a certain Tarutaru up.

"Oh, what a jest, do you think some power up will make us any easier to best?"

"Indeed I so, gnat. In fact…"

The light dimmed down, and what stood before them caught everyone's attention, Adel was… huge, she was already among the tallest in the war already, but now… at least five times Laguna's height. Yet the most telling thing was her chest now, the Esper had regressed to her human form, and was half-melded into her chest.

"…I have no doubt whatsoever."

* * *

**Ah-ha... Terra junctioned to Adel, that was one of the mental images I had in my head when I started this entire fic, never thought it would take so many chapters to get to it.**

**Please review.**


	18. Succession of Witches

**Lot of things happening in this chapter. Most of which you probably won't expect.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Dissidia.**

* * *

"What…?" Exdeath examined the Lunatic Pandora through the Emperor's various eyes, a series of magical amulets that could examine just about anything in all the worlds that had been collected for this cycle. Even through his immobile helmet, it could be vaguely seen that his head had tilted somewhat as he saw the scene he was watching unfold, he had guessed that Mateus had most likely given Adel the Esper, but what had just happened was most unexpected.

"She fused to the Esper… what is she trying to do?" Exdeath continued to gaze through the eye, his choice of words had evidentially made Gabranth curious, as the Judge clanked his armor up to the eye so he could see.

"So Adel… such power she's attempting to wield." Gabranth shook his head at the sight, "Foolish Sorceress, she's probably not even aware of what she's done… if Mateus' explanation of the Esper is correct."

Exdeath let out a sigh as he continued his watch of the battle unfolding. Yes, Mateus had given them an explanation of the Esper-girl at an earlier time in the war, the power in her form was fearsome from his description, but then, at the same time, Mateus acted like he didn't want her on the side of Chaos, said that her existence on the side of Chaos was only deterring the war. That anyone who tries to control her is destined to fail in their overall objective.

After nearly half a minute, he spoke, "There is much the Sorceress fails to understand… much more she underestimates." Exdeath trained his eyes behind his helm on the battle, "She possesses no subtlety, even the clown can comprehend tactics beyond blind aggression."

Fractures had gone all over the Lunatic Pandora as Adel's increase in power emanated from her. A sick smile emerged on her face as points of magic grew on the tip of the sharp spikes that had emerged from her skin, she no longer even had to use her arms, she stood semi-immobile as blasts flew from the spikes and toward her enemies.

It was almost like watching puppets dance, seeing the three jumping every which way in an attempt to elude harm, to Adel, it was proof of her unmatchable power, they were scurrying around to such an extent that they had no means to make a counter-attack. Any long-range offensive Laguna or Shantotto made was negated by her powers before they reached her, with a mere thought she made their attacks disperse into harmless smoke as they approached.

"Do you know realize the power of a Sorceress?" Adel laughed as the three continued their frantic dodging, it would only be a matter of time before someone's reflexes dulled and they would be rendered choice less in what would happen next, to her, the predictable outcome of defying her power.

Richard grunted as he rolled to the side as another blast struck near him, then he tuck rolled forward in response to beams descending from above. If no one could offer a proper counter-attack, then the loser in this had already been decided…

"By Deist." Richard flowed from his roll into a jump over a blast that had been coming from him straight on, "We must find a counter to this, or we've lost."

"You've already lost, Dragoon." Adel lifted an arm up to get her point across, the blast she fired was… so massive, it tore through the room of the Lunatic Pandora they were in, the blast was bigger then the room itself, Richard had no way to dodge, and the blast was clearly targeting him. Laguna and Shantotto could only look as Richard was completely enveloped by the blast, and when the beam faded there was only a massive scorch mark where Richard had been.

Laguna felt his stomach twist as he examined the scorch mark, Adel briefly desisted from her magical barrage, seemingly for no other reason then to let what just happened sink in.

"Frozen are we? Do you fear the extent to which my power has grown?" Adel flashed a sadistic humor, "Yes, you shall fear, everyone shall fear! In time all people of all worlds, every _deity_ shall fear what I shall become! I shall no longer need to look for a successor, I shall no longer need to bend my knee to anyone!" Adel's mind flashed to her humiliation as she was sealed by Laguna, as well as how she had to bend to the will of the other Chaos Warriors.

"I shall even make Chaos a slave under me!"

Exdeath and Gabranth were slightly shaken by Adel's statement, though not outwardly. A vow to enslave them along with Chaos had been uttered by her lips, she had revealed her true loyalties… fine. It would be a lie to say that Exdeath and Gabranth had true loyalties to Chaos either, Exdeath sought only an end to everything, and Gabranth's loyalties were to someone else in his own world. Garland was the only Chaos Warrior who placed any real value in serving the master of discord…

Even so, Chaos would undoubtedly be a much better master then Adel. They understood this. Gabranth turned to walk away, "I shall inform Mateus of this new development."

Exdeath continued to watch through his sight of the battle, telling the Emperor what was happening wasn't precisely necessary, if he so desired, Exdeath could consume Adel within the Void, she'd see how all her power, all her ambition, would amount to…

…nothing.

Yet, he was intrigued, he was interested in seeing how Mateus would respond to this, he focused his sight on Adel and the battle once more.

Adel had laughed non-stop, when it was suddenly cut-off by the sight of something from the edge of her field of vision… from above. She tilted her head up, something Laguna and Shantotto noticed, gazing up themselves, descending from the ceiling was a figure, in blue armor, with a… spear!

"Richard!" Laguna felt the feeling in his gut dissipating at the realization that he hadn't been killed by Adel, Richard was flying down from above, right at Adel.

Richard came down, his spear moved across Adel's left shoulder, creating the first damage she had received since her power up, something that clearly did not amuse her. Yet any attempt to continue damaging her couldn't happen just yet, as Richard was blown away simply by her aura. Adel chuckled as the Dragoon went sailing away through the air, but her amusement was cut short as she felt magic being cast on her, turning toward the Tarutaru, she witnessed Shantotto finishing the necessary preparations to cast a Silence spell on her, yet though she could feel her connection to her magic lessen somewhat, the Silence did far less then the Tarutaru intended, Adel raised an arm toward her and fired another gust of wind, sending Shantotto rocketing into a rocky wall.

"Foolish gnat." Adel was already feeling the effects of the Silence wearing off, her own strength easily dispelling it, "The deep pool of power I'm siphoning from has granted me far more power then some amateurish mage could match. If I so desired, I could slay you with a mere glance."

She was about to make a point with another shot of gust to force the collapsed Shantotto back into the wall when a sudden prickle of discomfort hit her in the gut. Turning her gaze in the proper direction, there was Laguna firing at her again, she almost gave into a laugh at his attempt to harm her, it was more like a flea bite, it seemed no one could perform any lasting harm to her, the small strike to her shoulder by Richard wasn't worth healing.

A belief that was put to the test suddenly, when she felt a sudden shift of magic centering in the air above her. She turned her gaze upward as a giant molten rock phased into existence, the realization of what was happening dawned on her, she turned her gaze back at Shantotto, already standing up again, and it was clear she was casting a Meteor spell on her. She could only chuckle as the space rock came down on her, she created a Wall spell to counter the rock, as it fell, it cracked on the Wall, splintering harmlessly across the green protective shield.

She took the Wall down, turning a mocking glaze toward Shantotto, and then had a massive fireball in her face, it seemed her hubris had been anticipated, while the Meteor had come down, Shantotto had prepared a Flare spell, and it went right at Adel's face. While she had received an earlier injury from Richard, this was perhaps the first time she truly felt pain in this fight. She took a step back from the suddenness of the blast to her, a sheering pain shooting through her, it was enough to make her briefly re-consider her chances in this battle… a reconsideration she quickly squashed as she righted herself and re-started firing magic through the spikes, and supplemented it with a blast of expanding Ultima upon the Tarutaru mage.

"Consider that your final lesson." Adel witnessed Shantotto attempt to flee from the attacks, but end up getting cornered and struck by nearly all of them. "You won't need another reminder of my superior might."

Feeling satisfied with how Shantotto had been dealt with, she turned around, to find Laguna flying at her, jumping through the air, he pointed his gun straight at her face and let loose with a barrage. These bullets… hurt a bit more then she expected, but she simply swatted him aside with another wind gust, with him knocked away she turned her attention back to Richard. He was charging again, she sought to counter it with a simple Quake spell, pointing a finger at the ground, it began to crack and shatter, the worst of the damage heading for the area Richard was moving on, but he simply jumped over it, the Dragoon tradition of being able to simply defy gravity to such an extreme… Adel responded with a gust of air from her hand, but somehow Richard's descent simply pierced right through it, she prepared to summon Ultima when she felt a small object collide with her back.

It didn't hit very hard, but it made her lose focus for a second, and then her back was scorched by an explosion.

She realized instantly that Laguna the soldier, had thrown a grenade at her, she barely even felt the flames, but it distracted her from her more proper target long enough… Richard landed on the ground just a few feet in front of her and charged forward, making a much smaller leap up and sliding his spear across her left arm, another bout of real pain coursed through her system as Richard kick-flipped off her.

Adel's amusement was fast slipping away, though they had done no true lasting damage they had still managed to slip through her defenses far too often. She allowed pure magical energy to flow through her body… it would be a triviality to simply kill them now, she had wanted to draw out their suffering but she risked defeat, even with the Esper's power still draining into her, if she continued that much longer.

Any attack she planned to instantly win the battle with was put on hold as a fist sized rock struck her from above. Not truly hurt at all, she looked up to see molten rock falling out of her, fading into existence from nowhere, she immediately turned her gaze to Shantotto, but the girl was just standing up from her last injury, it was foolish to think that she could have been the originator of the attack.

Adel grunted as more rocks landed on her, these far more painful then the first, she looked up in the air again to see one singular massive boulder coming down on her, she reflexively raised a Wall, but it shattered when the giant stone landed on it, she had no choice but to take the full brunt of the attack.

As the molten rock landed, the heat that she felt was indescribably hot, she tried to put up a small makeshift magic shield, but lacked the ability to simply concentrate enough to form it, she was being pushed to the ground by the massive boulder… when it suddenly exploded.

Searing chunks of rock flew in every direction as the primary rock exploded, Adel was battered in a way she probably had never been before… her thoughts were entirely set on finding the one who summoned the rocks and torturing him or her to death, what she didn't realize is that the originator of the attack was across the room from her.

"I had yet to see you actually fight, Emperor." Gabranth stood by Mateus, examining he aftermath of the Emperor's "Starfall" attack, it did far more damage then the three Cosmos Warriors had done throughout the entire battle. Mateus simply stood at ease beside Gabranth, of course, he knew it would come to this in the end, though he had half-suspected one of the Cosmos Warriors would have been killed… no matter.

"Em…Emperor, what do you think you're…" Adel looked forward and instantly realized who the attack had come from. A look of pure enragement emerged on her face, before soon melting into a slightly more even expression. "Pah, it doesn't matter, with the power my ally has offered me, you too shall become an insect before me."

"Ally?" The Emperor smirked at Adel's statement, creasing Adel's face with confusion… he was amused by her statement?

"Ally…" Mateus began laughing, "There is much you fail to understand, Adel. Let me show you your ally."

Mateus reached his hand out, a green orb emerged from his palm, floating peacefully above it, it slowly began to expand.

"The only reason I advised Chaos to summon those armies for us is so I could see how he did the summoning, it's quite simple, really. It's how I summoned the owner of the voice you've been hearing."

Gabranth paused for a moment and stole a glance at Mateus, he had concluded that Adel's frustrations were making her go crazy, she was actually talking to…

His thought were cut off as Laguna started up, "You mean the reason the Esthar soldiers are getting killed is because you wanted to watch the summoning!" He pointed his gun at the Emperor and fired a continuous barrage, but Gabranth leapt forward and repelled every bullet with his twin swords before falling into a battle stance to defend Mateus against any further attacks by the gunman.

The Emperor glanced at Laguna for a moment but ignored the question, turning his gaze back toward Adel. The green orb continued to expand until it was about twice the size of Mateus' head, and then it exploded into a blinding light, Adel in particular groaned as the light filled her scope of vision.

As it dimmed, the orb in Mateus' hand had disappeared, in it's place there was another person standing next to him… one none of them had ever seen before.

"This one comes from your world, though you've never met." Mateus chuckled as the new figure walked forward, in a red, somewhat skimpy robe, she was almost demonic in appearance, with her hair fashioned into horns and black wings extending out of her back. "Her name is Ultimecia, she is a Sorceress from far after your time."

Adel's face turned to a level of insane rage that had not been on her face since the day Laguna sealed her, "You… and you… I'll kill you both with this ultimate power!"

"I'm afraid not, Adel." Ultimecia raised an arm up and Adel instantly felt pure pain through her body. "You were not exactly hard to flatter or goad, Adel, did you not notice that I had long begun repeating myself?" For all the pain across Adel's whole body, the strongest pain was in her chest, the Esper-girl was also convulsing from the sudden pain. In a moment she began to get pulled out from her chest, un-merging, leaving Adel's chance what it had once been as the girl began to unconsciously float away from her.

"That is my power! She exists for the sole purpose of being drained by me!"

"Oh, you want power?" Mateus chuckled as he threw an arm out, twisting the Esper around to face Adel, "Then let me show you the power you never had any control over…"

A surge of energy began to funnel out of the Esper-girl, it felt like it was exploding out of her body, but it was condensed, controlled, heading straight for Adel…

Adel's eyes widened at the flames coming toward her, she made an attempt to teleport, but a wave of Ultimecia's arm froze the magical energy inside her body, she was left with no choice but to watch as the explosive energy came upon her.

"Mateus… you…!" Adel stammered one half-completed threat before the flames engulfed her, the pain dragged her body erect, she practically hung there as the flames licked at her, sapping her life away… she made one futile attempt to escape, lifting a trembling hand through the flame, trying to drag herself out of the fire, but it was too late, and the explosion ran it's course.

When it ended, Adel collapsed to the ground face-first, one arm sprawled on the ground in front of her, bits of purple smoke emanated off of her. There was no denying it, she was fading.

"You're role in this conflict is over, Adel. You have my permission to die." Mateus laughed as Adel phased out of existence, any further role she planned to have in the war was now impossible to fulfill, the only other thing to concern himself with now was the Esper-girl.

"Adel was only the stepping stone to change the alignment of your soul." Mateus watched as the girl started to drift toward him, when she was hovering only a few feet away from him, she stopped her movement, her body erected itself upward, her neck craning back.

"Next time, you shall be one of them, we shall need ten on both sides in order to…" Mateus neglected to finish the sentence, but he gave in to the smirk he was holding back. With a small impulse from his hand, she too began to fade.

"Gabranth." Mateus looked over his shoulder toward the ready Judge, "Inform Exdeath of his orders, it's time we began leading this war to it's inevitable conclusion.

Gabranth looked at Mateus expectedly for a moment, but then turned to walk off.

"Now, you three." Mateus turned back to the forefront, Laguna, Richard, and Shantotto had re-grouped together, and it seemed they were ready to pick a fight. "I'm afraid I'm in no mood to soil my hands to amuse insects, but I have something to entertain you."

Ultimecia let a smile go across her face as Mateus raised his hand into the air once more, it was a summoning, the same kind he had used to summon her, a pillar of light appeared on the ground in front of him, and a figure… a very large figure… began to appear.

A large white figure, almost angelic in appearance, armed with a spear.

"Behold, worms. Absolute Virtue." Mateus let another grin appear on his face as the creature lurched forward, Laguna and Richard wore a typical determined expression, but Shantotto…

She knew this creature.

* * *

**Please review.**


	19. Absolute Virtue

**It occurs to me... throughout "The Previous Cycle", I've been constantly saying "Wall" when it's actually called "Shell" these days. Huh.**

**Anyway, in this chapter we're all... Absolute Virtue-y... I haven't played XI, but the issue with the dang thing seems to be infamous for me to be aware of the problem with the thing, namely the Benediction+No MP Cost+Meteor issue.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

The beast once chained… Absolute Virtue… the creature lurched forward at Mateus' command, he took a moment to note a black band around the creature's neck, he needed to remember to thank Kefka for introducing him to slave crowns, otherwise he would have been forced to enslave Absolute Virtue through magic… something difficult to do for an angelic based creature.

He had even modified this slave crown to be a bit less obvious in it's placement, though it still presented a danger, if the crown were to break, it would surely make a point of coming after…

Mateus shook his head of the thought as he watched the nearly invincible creature tighten it's grip on the spear in it's fingers as the distance between it and the heroes closed. A nearly invincible monster, Absolute Virtue, even if he hadn't known about it beforehand it could be easily surmised that Shantotto came from the same world as the creature. Her reaction was… distinct.

Shantotto grabbed the legs of both of her allies, though her diminutive mass prevented her from actually pulling them anywhere, they both sensed the force attempting to move their legs.

"Is something wrong, Shantotto?" Richard jerked his leg back, disorienting Shantotto as she was dragged forward, as she let go of the Dragoons leg, the arm that had grabbed onto the armor made a sudden movement and some particles of magic appeared on it, it resulted in a small distortion of the air across from her hand, a bubble appeared in front of her hand, the interior of the bubble seemingly showing Order's Sanctuary.

"Listen to me, we have to flee!" Shantotto made a frantic pointing gesture towards the bubble, her Teleport, "There is no weapon you could swing, that could defeat that thing!"

Laguna disengaged his stare at the huge creature to turn toward Shantotto. The way she was gesturing towards the Teleport was clearly a panic on her part, but considering the damage they did against Adel, there seemed to be no reason to believe that they would get defeated by this thing.

"The creature will follow you straight through that portal." Mateus smirked at the look of panic that creased Shantotto's face, this was the first time she had displayed any amount of fear throughout the entire cycle, all it took was a creature from her world to send that terror into her.

"We have to get out of here, if we don't are allies will be reduced to tears!" Shantotto grabed Richard by the ankle and tried to pull him again, even as Absolute Virtue began it's first attack. The creature lowered it's arms and thrust forward with it's spear, an attack Richard aimed to meet, despite the difference in the size of the weapons he managed to re-direct the attack to move over the heads of the three Cosmos Warriors. Richard followed this with a strike against the creatures arm, yet for all the force in the blast, only a small cut was born on the creature.

"We need everyone committed to the battle, Shantotto!" Richard moved to the side as Absolute Virtue's arm came back, dragged the spear back through the ground and dirt around them, Richard sunk into a battle position as Absolute Virtue backed up slightly, it clearly needed room for it's spear thrusts.

"We can't fight it! It'll blast you into little bits!" Shantotto tried to grab Laguna's leg to pull him, to no avail due to his larger weight.

_Blast?_ The word registered on Richard's mind, it would have made more contextual sense for her to say "chop" considering Absolute Virtue's choice of weaponry. He took a step back as the creature advanced again, Shantotto obviously knew the creature, if so, there might have been something she was too unnerved to say right now about Absolute Virtue.

"Fine, if we retreat, I want you to tell us absolutely everything about this thing." Richard braced himself, then jumped to the right to dodge another spear thrust. Still on his feet, he turned his head to the side to look at Shantotto's Teleport, with a nod, the three of them began to move toward it. Absolute Virtue, however, had other ideas about how this encounter would end…

It seemed to realize what was happening and flew past them to block off the portal. Richard flinched as he saw the speed of the massive beast, and… Mateus had just said that it would simply follow them through the portal. It was easy to guess that it took time for the portal to close, therefore…

"We'll need a decoy." Both Laguna and Shantotto paused at the statement, and turned to look at him, "If someone doesn't distract him, we'll never reach the portal."

"Wait, but if someone does that, then-" Laguna raised a hand, seemingly in an attempt to reinforce himself, but slowly dropped it down when the realization that someone would be left in the room alone against Absolute Virtue, Mateus, and Ultimecia dawned on him.

"The last person has to try and cut it as close as he can, he has to lure this… thing, away from the portal, then jump into it at the last second before it closes." Richard paused to tilt his head down, his eyes closed, "That person will be me."

"What!" Laguna reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder. "What are you trying to suggest?"

"It goes without saying that I can take more punishment then anyone else, here." Richard tore a few steps forward, breaking Laguna's grip on his shoulder. "We'll all attack the monster together at first, you two duck into the portal as fast as you can, and I'll try to time my own entry into the portal."

"Trying to fight against that thing will ensure you're doom, you'll die with a few giant booms." Shantotto's expression remained the same rigid uncomfortable expression, it was almost… unnerving for Richard to see her like this, compared to her usual expression, yet he offered no chance for the warning to sink in, dashing forward, with the two following suit after a moment, towards Absolute Virtue.

It paused momentarily at the sudden offense, but suddenly pushed forward, bringing its spear down, the thrust missed as Richard spun to the right, and the attack itself not going near Laguna or Shantotto. Richard began attacking with a sweep across Absolute Virtue's outstretched arm, yet the spear left only a light bruise across the creature, yet a spray of bullets from Laguna's gun right into the creature's face seemed to cause much more severe discomfort. It raised an arm to shield it's face as the three ran by it.

"Okay, you two, get in the portal, now!" Richard turned around to face Absolute Virtue, Laguna paused for a moment at the suggestion of leaving an ally behind, only for Richard to turn around and shove him through the portal.

With Laguna through, he turned to give a hard look at Shantotto, she promptly jumped through the portal as well, leaving Richard alone to stall Absolute Virtue. It had already recognized that it's face wasn't being fired upon anymore and turned around, chasing down the one enemy that had not yet escaped, moving with the same speed that had outpaced all three of them earlier.

Laguna and Shantotto landed at Order's Sanctuary, the inherit calmness of Cosmos' throne had it's effect on them, but they both suddenly turned around to see what they could through the Teleport portal. Richard had his back to them as Absolute Virtue hovered in front of him, and then it charged forward.

The spear in it's arms tore through the ground in front of Richard as he spun away from the attack, countering with a jumping slash across the creature's torso. This one seemed to put a more realistic wound upon Absolute Virtue, yet it seemed to discomfort Shantotto more then anything else.

"Oh no, Absolute Virtue gets really dangerous if it starts getting hurt, if he does that too much he _will_ be sleeping under dirt!" Shantotto hunched forward at her view of the battle, Absolute Virtue backed off for a moment as Richard made another swipe across the creature's gut. It did nothing to ease Shantotto's nerves.

Absolute Virtue backed away and prepared a magical attack, fire encircled it's clawed fingers as Richard tried to press an advantage, the flame burst forth, which Richard easily dodged, as he managed to make a small jump up and slash the creature's chest. It summarily countered with a swing of it's spear, though the blade didn't touch him, the rod of the weapon struck Richard hard on his side, catapulting him several feet away, off-center from the Teleport portal.

He flipped to his feet rather quickly, even as Absolute Virtue placed itself squarely between the Dragoon and the portal. It was at this moment that the Teleport began to flicker somewhat, it registered on Richard that he needed to jump through soon, but with the creature standing in front of the portal right now…

He charged forward again, intent on further damaging it, it attempted to stab the oncoming Dragoon on it's spear, only for Richard to jump up above the creature's head and bring it's spear down across it's body. The wound went straight from the creature's right shoulder to diagonally across it's chest and torso.

_So, what was it that Shantotto was so afraid of? _Richard contemplated why she had been so scared of this creature, as far as he could tell, it's size was just for show.

That suggestion was rendered moot when it loosened it's grip on the spear and slowly swung it's free arm forward, the wound across it's body disappeared immediately. Richard took a step back, the creature had healing abilities, even so, if it was having such difficulty in actually hitting him…

Across the room, Mateus and Ultimecia stood silently, observing the spectacle, Mateus chuckled to himself. "If he only knew what was coming next." He took a step back to protect himself from the soon to ensue hell. Ultimecia was unfamiliar with this creature, but she took note of Mateus' action and stepped back as well.

"Richard, get through the portal _now_!" Shantotto screamed immediately, evidentially seeing no reason to rhyme this time, with the Teleport beginning to flicker with greater intensity, and she knew full well what Absolute Virtue was doing. To her dismay, Richard held his ground and his fighting stance, he had sealed his fate.

Absolute Virtue raised his free arm in the air, something about the motion seemed to distort the air above him, the sky above their heads taking on a red hue, flames were born into existence as giant molten rocks began to fade into existence above him. Richard took that as a cue to head for the portal, he disengaged from combat and attempted to reach the Teleport, only for the first Meteor to slam down on the ground in front of him, he attempted to circle around it, only for another Meteor to zoom right above his head, carving into the ground to his side, the suddenness of this gave him pause.

It was at this moment that the Meteors, in their sheer numbers, all fell down. The first that came down sealed off entry to the portal, on the other side, Shantotto and Laguna could no longer see anything, their sight to the other side completely closed off… and then the portal shut.

"No!" Laguna took a step forward and reached his arm out in the sudden horror of the moment, then he turned to Shantotto, "Open another portal!"

"I can't!" Shantotto shook her head, "I can't pin-point the exact location of that area…" Shantotto trailed off, once again making no rhyme, clenching his teeth Laguna turned back to where the portal had been.

Richard dodged another Meteor, but it would be the last bit of avoided pain. The next Meteor came down just as he was recovering from the sudden movement he had put his body through, it slammed right down on his head, forcing him to the ground, on his face, before it exploded on him.

In all his days, he had not yet felt a pain quite like this, he made an attempt to pick himself up, when suddenly another Meteor fell on him, with it's explosion he became acutely aware of his chances of escape at this point, when more suddenly fell on him.

After several minutes, the Meteors stopped falling, compelling Mateus to begin walking forward. It took a few minutes to get to where Richard had been, he had been so far off from the spot, Absolute Virtue backed away to allow the Emperor passage. The area Richard had been at had the most smoke around it, everything below Mateus' waist was obscured in a thick black smoke, when he finally reached the spot, he leaned forward and put his hand down towards the ground, after a moment he felt his hand touch something cold and firm, he grabbed it and pulled it back up.

He was holding a Dragoon's helm in his hands, the blue metal cracked and shattered, one of the helmet's "wings" had been ripped off, the helmet misshapen in some horrid fashion, the meaning of the helmet's condition was obvious.

"He is dead." Mateus spoke evenly as the helm started to fade, the Dragoon's role in the conflict now over. "His part in this was only to point the Esper in the right direction. His two allies have outlived their usefulness as well."

"How has the Esper been changed?" Ultimecia came up along his side, resulting in Mateus shifting his view from his hand, now clutching nothing, to her for a moment, before returning his gaze toward the forefront.

"I cast a spell on her, on a sub-conscious level she was aware of what Adel was doing with her. Her own true mind was aware of it." Mateus paused and closed his eyes for a moment, "She will have an unseen, but felt, desire to correct what happened. She will be a Cosmos Warrior next time."

He opened his eyes again, "Come, Ultimecia, the Warriors of Cosmos are ready for the next cycle, but there are two things to take care of for the Warriors of Chaos."

* * *

For the last few hours, Jecht had wandered around Narshe for any sign of Galuf, and just when he was contemplating giving up, he heard a loud crashing sound. He turned around, expecting to see Galuf, but instead he found an armored fist reaching out of a hole in the ground, a hole he was sure hadn't been there a moment ago.

His belief that the hole was fairly new was reinforced when the arm extended further, breaking the ground next to the hole, in a moment the owner of the arm became obvious, as Garland crawled out of the ground. Jecht quickly adopted a battle stance, but it loosened slightly as he noticed how battered up the knight looked, he pretty much didn't have a cape now.

He was still ready for a fight, however, and he charged forward, Garland, however, was in no mood, before Jecht had swung his first attack, Garland noticed the charge, and the back of Garland's hand connected with Jecht's face when the distance closed. Jecht spun around for a moment before he collapsed on the ground, already unconscious.

When angered, Garland was not to be trifled with.

* * *

**Not sure if Shantotto's Teleport is XI accurate... I'm not even sure if the Teleport or Warp spell was even in XI, Shantotto's warp was based more on the Mage Portals from World of Warcraft.**

**Please review.**


	20. The Next Step

**Another chapter, you know the drill.**

**'scuse me if I use this chapter to make some in-universe poking at Absolute Virtue's effective role in XI.**

**Dislcaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

"Ah. The fallen knight has returned, has he?" Mateus studied the returned Garland carefully, back, "safely" to the Edge of Madness, it was clear just by looking at him that he had been caught in the explosion of the Ultima Tome. Though he did not fear the ex-Cornelian knight, it would not be prudent to antagonize him more then was necessary. He was clearly not in the most… pleasant, of moods.

"The Ultima Tome retrieval was a failure… Emperor." Garland let the last word of the sentence hang in the air, something that told Mateus that Garland seemed to have realized that he had never had any true interest in learning how to cast Ultima.

"Ah, Garland, you are more perceptive then you appear." Mateus almost smirked, but his smile died before it's birth when he saw that Garland's grip on his weapon tightened, he wanted no reason to give Garland reason to attack him. Perhaps, on some level, he did fear the knight, or at least, was evasive about the thought of fighting him… right now.

"Much has happened in the hours you were absent, Garland, allow me to inform-"

"Mateus!" the Emperor was cut off as Ultimecia appeared behind him, declaring his name.

"What is it, Ultimecia? I was just about to explain your presence to our… second-in-command."

"Galuf is waking up."

"…I see." Mateus closed his eyes, muttering a few words under his breath, which neither person near him could hear, before raising his head. "I need a bit more time for the operation, I'll see to it that Galuf and Jecht take flight immediately, explain the details regarding the Esper and Adel to Garland."

Mateus closed his eyes again, after a moment his body began to fade from existence.

Ultimecia paced forward to where Mateus had been standing a moment ago. One look at the posture of his body made it clear that he had no idea who she was… yet somehow she sensed that he didn't really care, either.

"Ah yes, to begin, Adel and the Esper aren't part of this cycle anymore." Ultimecia took note of a sudden movement in Garland's body, though weather it was the declaration of the ends of the two, or the fact that she used the word "cycle" and not "war" that caught him unprepared, she wasn't sure.

"You see, Garland, it began when Mateus managed to speak to me…"

* * *

"Ungh…" Galuf felt a groan escape his mouth as his consciousness became more active. His eyes were still closed, but he was starting to wake up.

"Kri-" a sudden sound came out of Galuf's mouth, he was barely aware of it, it was like he was dreaming, yet his conscious mind was clawing itself to dominance over his sub-conscious.

"K-k…" Galuf's eyes opened, he felt a massive ache in his head… which only got worse when he tried to sit up and hit his forehead on a rock, sending him back onto his back.

"Augh, where is… oh yes, that spell book." Galuf moved his left arm up to stroke at his forehead, he was obviously still in Narshe. Though he was also trapped under some rubble. Not entirely sealed in though, he could see some light streaming in, enough to see the area around him. To his fortune, his sword was only a few feet away, he could see the hilt poking out of a nearby mound of rocks. Picking himself up, taking some cautious slow movements to keep himself from hitting his head on another rock, he grabbed the hilt of his sword and pulled it out.

Galuf sighed as he noted signs of mild strain on the sword, it wasn't sturdy like Jecht or Garland's weapons, their weapons probably survived completely intact… though he had no word on the owners of the weapons.

Galuf's sword was a basic steel sword you could buy at any weapon merchant, it wasn't a legendary item, and it wasn't the definition of durable, but it had served him well.

Galuf paused for a moment as he reflected on his weapon, before dropping his train of thought and boarding a new one… he had to get out from under this rubble.

It was actually quite a convenient situation, the rubble had landed in a way that none of it actually landed on him, it was more like he had been trapped in a small room, and considering the light coming through the cracks, a room with windows. Albeit, one not big enough to stand up straight in.

Still, one rock moved in the wrong direction could cause a small cave-in, he felt rather battered up as it stood, he'd prefer not to have everything above him come crashing down now. He moved towards one of the spots that light was filtering in from and peered outside, what he saw, he couldn't have expected.

"Jecht!" Jecht was lying on the ground in plain sight, the ground around his body was fairly undisturbed, it would have been a massive stretch to think that he had been thrown to this exact spot when the magic book exploded… something must have put him there.

Galuf was eager to get to his ally, but it would have been no help to either of them if the rocks came down on him, he grabbed one piece of rubble that looked like it wasn't the foundation for anything else and pulled it free, his heart skipped a beat as part of him expected the entire pseudo-chamber he was in to come down. After a moment, his nerves started to come back to him, it took nearly ten minutes, but he managed to open a path he could get his body through. He got through the small passage and landed on the ground, the first thing he did was take in a huge gulp of air, after being trapped under that rubble for what could only presume was… a while, the outdoor air just _tasted_ good.

It was only for a moment, however, and he moved to Jecht's side, he reached a hand out and put it on the man's shoulder.

"Jecht! Jecht!" No reply came, but he was breathing, so he wasn't quite dead yet, Galuf took a firm grasp on him and flipped him over, there was a distinct and clear bruise on his face that told Galuf that he had run into some trouble after the book exploded. He shook Jecht again, but there still wasn't any response, Galuf sighed and placed a firm grip on Jecht's shoulder and hoisted him up.

Placing Jecht's arm over his shoulder, he lifted the old ace up in the air, he felt his skin revile at the feeling of Jecht's sweaty arm going across the back of his neck, but forced himself to put up with it. Yet he had barely began to walk off when a voice resonated.

"A pair of scurrying insects? How amusing." Galuf turned around to see Emperor Mateus standing behind him… how long had he been there?

"What do you want?" Galuf put a nervous eye on Jecht, there was definitely no way he could fight like this… he put his gaze back on Mateus, "I'm really not in the mood to fight."

"Not in the mood? Or are you just… incapable in your current situation?" Mateus smirked at the limp Jecht, Garland's handiwork, no doubt. "That concern for others will cost you your life, sooner or later. Why not rather… work for someone who will reward you?"

Galuf spit on the ground at Mateus' mock work proposal for him. Mateus' eyes slightly illuminated with amusement, he hadn't expected Galuf to consider a more… intelligent line or work.

"Of course, Galuf, I would expect no less from you." Mateus made a mock bow toward the aged warrior, "I wonder, though, if you'll be so confident when Gabranth and Exdeath find you."

Mateus chuckled at a sudden look of frustration from Galuf, "Oh, that's right, Gabranth and Exdeath have been ordered to deal with you two. I'd run now. There is no telling the pain they'd put you through."

The Emperor took a step back, his appearance beginning to fade out, Galuf was resigned to just stand there, he could make no swift movements as long as he was still holding Jecht. After the Emperor had vanished, he began to make slow movements forward, he didn't know Gabranth all that well, but he had seen Exdeath fight first hand in the cycle, it wouldn't be good to let that attack him while he was handicapped by a certain dead weight…

* * *

"What do we do now?" Laguna stared into the empty space the Teleport spell had been at. It could be easily concluded that Richard was dead, now. He could just… hear that white thing, Absolute Virtue, laughing, accented by Mateus' own laughter. If Virtue could laugh at all.

"Well, continuing to do Cosmos' will… that's something that should fit the bill." Shantotto came up beside him, piecing her old ego back together, yet this time her rhyme didn't seem to bother Laguna, he had more important things to think about.

"Fight the Warriors of Chaos?" Laguna paused, "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I doubt Richard would like me like this anyhow." Laguna placed an arm over his chest, his gun placed firmly in the hand, almost like a salute.

"Still, though…" Laguna slumped forward slightly, "Does that Absolute Virtue thing have a weakness? I mean, you clearly recognized it, what do you know about it?"

Shantotto paused for a moment at the question, "Um… Absolute Virtue has never been grievously wounded ever, we've never determined a weakness on it, we've simply never."

"Wait, so it… rampages wherever it pleases?"

"No, not really. It's actually sealed off most of the time, but it gets unsealed and kills people just fine." Shantotto turned to look away from Laguna, "We have no real reason to free it and become food on it's dish, but there always seems to be some group with a death-wish."

Laguna raised an eyebrow at the statement, "So, people are unsealing Absolute Virtue and fighting it… just because they can?"

"Essentially yes. The people certainly have a knack for it, those Humes, and if you try to stop them they just fume."

Laguna was starting to get irritated by the rhyming again.

* * *

"So, Adel was destroyed when she attempted to betray us, also attempting to destroy the Esper, Mateus and I took care of Adel, but the Esper was, uh… taken out in the cross-fire."

Garland shook his head indigently, what it really came out to, however, was that they had lost two members and gained one new one, a effective replacement for Adel, seeing as she had identified herself as a Sorceress. Though she stressed that very few sorceresses were completely alike.

"So that Esper is gone now?"

"The Esper is _what_?"

Garland looked past Ultimecia to see a certain clown approaching from behind. Kefka's eyes were mad. "Mad" relative to what his eyes were usually like.

"Explain to me what just happened!" Kefka thrust his hands forward, prompting Ultimecia to take a step forward to prevent him from latching on to her shoulders.

"So, you've allowed my precious toy to be lost?" Kefka seethed at the two, magic beginning to form in his fingers. In response, Ultimecia merely crossed her arms and flashed a defiant look across her face.

"Garland, seeing as you just got back, why don't you take a rest? I'm wanting to see some of the other Chaos Warrior's abilities first hand, anyway."

Ultimecia uncrossed her arms and placed them at her side casually, a few purple arrows began to appear in the air around her. Garland grunted at the display before picking up his weapon and walking in the opposite direction. He looked over his shoulder at the fight about to ensue, "I want no permanent damage, Ultimecia."

Garland disappeared from the area as Kefka generated a number of large blue balls around him, in response, Ultimecia increased the number of arrows she had summoned. She made a twisted laugh at the sight of Kefka's hateful expression, starting the fight off with a comment.

"Lost an Esper? That's reality, no one will help you with it. You should understand that."

* * *

**Hm, a villain vs. villain fight next time.**

**Please review.**


	21. Light of Judgement

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Please review.**

* * *

Galuf trudged as fast as he could, yet his movements remained slow, Jecht was still unconscious, whatever had hit him, it had hit him hard. He could still see the bruise on Jecht's head, but for now he couldn't make any attempt to examine it. Not that it would do any good, he wasn't a White Mage…

Narshe was already behind him, he had spent more then enough time in that town. Not that "town" was the correct descriptive term anymore. With the explosion of that book, it was nothing more then a crater with some rubble in it. The place he was at right now… it was known as Cornelia, it was a much more pleasant looking town, though if another explosion occurred, that would be subject to change…

Galuf felt the need to take a break, but he couldn't very well dump Jecht on the ground, he scanned the surrounding area for a moment, he was right by a fountain, a drink of water might have been good right now. More relevant to him, however, was the presence of an Inn, that might be an acceptable place to put Jecht down at, with a groan he adjusted Jecht's placement on his shoulder, the man's weight pushed down on him after an hour or two of walking like this. He began to make movements for the Inn.

* * *

"Cross-fire? _Cross-fire_!" Kefka unleashed a mad flurry of man-sized blue spheres at Ultimecia, none of which hit her, but enough to force her to make erratic dodging movements as they exploded. "My precious toy, killed in the _cross-fire_?"

"Indeed." A barrage of purple spikes flew out of the magic smoke left over by the exploded spheres, forcing Kefka to erect a Wall to protect himself. Ultimecia casually walked out of the smoke, purple energy forming above her.

"If she was stronger, perhaps we would have had reservations about letting her get injured in the… cross-fire." Ultimecia smirked at the continuing charade, and at Kefka's increasing anger, but the smirk flickered away when Kefka shot a Blizzard spell out. At first it shot only a few feet away from the clown and hovered in the air, inciting a raised eyebrow from the Sorceress, before the chunk of ice splintered, sending hundreds of sharp-edged bits of ice flying towards her.

Reflexively, she shot the purple smoke hovering above her out, taking the form of an axe, it sailed straight toward the pieces of ice, knocking them to the side, losing their momentum.

Yet, not quite all of them, a few pieces were still flying at her, on the edge of the cloud of ice, not hit by her purple axe, she felt the little pieces of ice bruise and cut her on her sides, Kefka, on the other hand, managed to simply dodge to the left to get away from the purple axe.

An ever so silent curse on her lips, she thrust her hand out, purple spikes flying straight out of it, right for Kefka. He managed to dodge them with his characteristic erratic movements, almost like a mock-dance… followed by his shrill laugh. He may have been preparing to taunt or insult her… when a final stray purple spike came up and pierced right into his left leg.

He let out a small gasp as the spike disappeared, leaving a disturbed feel to the fabric on his leg, but no apparent injury. He turned back to Ultimecia to see her… preparing something. She was speaking words he couldn't hear from the distance, and making small movements with her arms and fingers, when suddenly a ring appeared around her on the floor.

She let out a small smile as the ring began to move across the floor, in his direction. It didn't take a scientist to see that it would be a terminally bad idea to let the ring get underneath him. He skipped to the left, the ring curved to follow his movement, spurring Kefka to instead dart to the side through the air… when the ring suddenly erupted.

A blast reaching up above, emanating from the ring, before it, and the blast, suddenly vanished. Kefka had only a moment to gawk as purple spikes again polluted the air, but… they didn't fire at him, not right now, at least.

Ultimecia was summoning more and more spikes, but they just hung in the air, all pointing at Kefka, but none moving at him. Yet… if she summoned too many more of them, he risked being effectively enclosed.

Certainly not in any hurry to let that happen, Kefka channeled a piece of fire on his hand, and let loose. The blast punched a hole through the wall of spikes directly in front of him, but the sudden loss of spikes seemed to entice the others into coming down on him. Rushing forward through the hole he made, he turned around only to whip a Wall into place behind him before darting ahead, then springing up in the air.

As each spike strike one thing or another, they disappeared in a puff of smoke, due to the sheer amount of smoke appearing, Ultimecia couldn't see through it. She already knew the attack had failed, otherwise there would have been more in the way of screams and groans out of Kefka, the question then, was, where was Kefka?

Kefka answered this himself, when he suddenly appeared above her, he swooped down to her level and turned his back to her, suddenly wings sprouted from his back, growing out at an impossible speed, she reflexively jumped back, but didn't escape entirely, feeling the tips of the two largest wings spread painfully into her gut before she managed to get completely free of their reach.

Ultimecia grunted a moment before returning her attention to the forefront, Kefka was already facing her again, a huge smirk on his face, beyond even the painted grin. He tilted his head in an amusing way, more then enough for Ultimecia to see that he was mocking her. Undaunted, Ultimecia assumed a casual stance again, even as Kefka began to charge energy, then a series of blue orbs was fired at her, similar to what he had started the fight off with. Ultimecia merely stood there as they approached, choosing to call upon her element now.

"Time!"

Upon her order, everything just… stopped. Kefka, along with his magical attack, just hang in the air, his energy balls didn't even pulse or surge, they were just as motionless as the rest of the room. Ultimecia, the only one not affected, casually moved forward, leaving an image of herself behind, as the world itself seemed to flicker.

Kefka was frozen in an almost dance-like movement, preparing to fire another series of energy balls, Ultimecia was able to easily weave through the ones hovering in the air, dodging them all would have been nearly impossible if time wasn't frozen as it was now. She moved right up to Kefka… he certainly looked like he was about to break into laughter.

With a wave of her arm, she generated purple spikes, but attacking Kefka wasn't her intention. Not yet, at least. She directed the spikes away from the clown, instead sending them to pierce the blur orbs he had summoned, each spike swiftly struck an orb, and exploded in a puff of blue smoke, she smirked at the destruction of Kefka's barrage attack, even as time began to flow again.

As time returned to it's proper flow, Kefka saw all his attacks, as well as Ultimecia herself, suddenly blink out of existence instantly. Kefka disengaged himself from his intended attack as he realized that Ultimecia was standing right by him, he jumped to the left as she attempted to swipe him with a sword-shaped purple weapon.

Kefka landed away from her and continued to glare, Ultimecia, on the other hand, calmly crossed her arms and laughed.

"You can't deny the will of a witch, Kefka. You might as well just surrender." Of course, there was no way Kefka would surrender, it was just a pride statement from her, seeing as she had diffused his last attack perfectly.

Kefka paused for moment, seeming to think about something, before raising himself up in the air, floating gently above the ground, he gave a smile that made him seem overeager about what he was going to do next, it was enough to discomfort Ultimecia.

Casually, Kefka raised a hand into the air, after a moment Ultimecia realized a strange movement in the magic arcane powers that surrounded Kefka, the one that was surrounding him now, it was almost… divine.

Kefka brought his hand back down, at once the energy surrounding him changed as well, Kefka looked up above him, prompting Ultimecia to do so as well, and she saw a huge pillar of light coming down right where she was.

"Ti-" Too late. Ultimecia's attempt to bend time once more was interrupted as the Light of Judgment came down on her, she felt a scorching pain course through her body throughout the entire duration of the attack. When it finally ended, she was deposited on the ground, on her hands and knees as her body was reacting to the pain that had been sent through her body. She looked up at Kefka, and he was doing exactly what she had expected of him, a shrill laugh.

Every part of her body was protesting against any movement, but she still brought herself back up to a standing position, but the pain she was in was still evident. Her chances of victory had been… decreased, not quite eliminated, but decreased.

Kefka casually floated to the ground, seemingly already believing that he had won. Landing, he walked with clear ego towards her, but Ultimecia wasn't quite ready to admit defeat. She suddenly sprang forward, constructing a purple axe as she pounced on him, an attack with the axe would do considerable damage to Kefka, but…

"This match is over." Kefka and Ultimecia both looked in the direction the voice had come from, there stood Garland, with his armor in better condition and his cape restored. "The efforts of the Chaos Warriors is not aided by you trying to kill each other."

"What? She destroyed my precious little toy! I get to have my fun with her, I-"

Garland suddenly charged forward and his fist struck hard into Kefka's gut. Kefka barreled back from the attack, he didn't quite fall unconscious, but his ability to stay awake had been tested by the attack.

"You will call off that vendetta, now." Garland took a step forward towards Kefka, the clown, still fully conscious, but battered by the sudden movement, Garland reached down and grabbed Kefka at his shoulder. "Am I making myself clear, Kefka?"

"Y-yes… I won't attack Ultimecia again." The expression of Kefka's face seemed to say the exact opposite, but for the moment Garland let go of the clown, Kefka began to mutter under his breath, even without being able to identify the individual words, Garland knew it was a vow of revenge, but he was unconcerned.

Instead, he simply turned toward Ultimecia, "You are to avoid contact with him, do not to anything that will antagonize him." Garland saw yet a rather defiant look from the Sorceress, prompting him to make his point clearer. "Do not disobey me Ultimecia, there are worse fates then simply enduring agony by my hands."

Garland stood there for a moment as Ultimecia's expression became just slightly less fiery and she looked to the side. Garland returned his gaze to the forefront, and paced off in the direction he was looking at. Dealing with the Chaos Warriors, sometimes he felt more like a babysitter.

* * *

The Cornelian Inn was surprisingly modest, Galuf had expected the Inn so close to a castle to be a bit… fancier. Even so, he wasn't demanding anything right now, he had put Jecht into a bed and had made a point to examine the layout of the Inn, he didn't expect anything but… an emergency could always come along.

Galuf paced by the receptionist's desk, as long as Jecht was out, his circumstances were exceptionally bad, the Chaos Warriors could easily gang up on him now. If Jecht was conscious, his status in battle would improve.

As he continued to pace, he realized that his current situation could have been avoided if he and Jecht had simply not gone into the mines, though it was Garland who send Jecht down in the first place. That knight was… terrifying, Jecht was the strongest person he had ever rightly met, and yet Garland could easily out-muscle him. Now, he certainly couldn't hope to match Garland muscle for muscle, and the knight clearly wasn't an idiot either, so maybe he could…

Galuf's train of thought was suddenly cut off as he heard voices, very distant voices. He moved toward the window to get a look outside, yet he had looked for barely half a second before he spun to the left of the window. A terrible situation, this was.

Gabranth and Exdeath had just entered Cornelia.


	22. Battle At The Inn

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Gathering his nerves, Galuf brought himself to peer out the window again, Gabranth and Exdeath were still there, obviously. To his possible fortune, the Inn didn't seem high on their list of areas to search, but according to Mateus, they were there specifically to search for him and Jecht. Galuf inched away from the window slightly, wanting to leave as little of himself visible as possible, the last thing he needed right now was to be spotted.

Suddenly Gabranth raised an arm up in the air and clenched his fist, at once a legion of Arcadian soldiers came up beside him. Galuf's stomach knotted up, henchmen, like those soldiers that were in the mine, but these were different looking.

Gabranth's next movement was exactly what Galuf had expected the Judge would do. He put his arm forward, and the soldiers marched forward to search Cornelia. It was simple looting and pillaging, though a bit less barbaric, seeing as evidentially everything was unlocked, and there wasn't really anything to loot or pillage. Still, they seemed keen to damage the things they were investigating, and then, the thing Galuf feared the most happened, three soldiers were heading towards the Inn.

The Inn didn't have the most complicated design, it was roughly three rooms, one room housing the lobby, one room housing four beds, and one simply being more like a lounge. To his fortune, as the three Arcadians came in, he and Jecht weren't immediately in sight, being in the next room it gave him the time to yank Jecht out of his bed and try to hide him on the ground on the bedside opposite the door. Not a moment after he had accomplished this did two of the three soldiers enter the room, the third likely still in the lobby or in the lounge.

Galuf rolled under the bed, the drapes obscured him, yet due to the lighting of the room, Galuf could make out their basic silhouettes. The two soldiers scanned the room for a moment, apparently expecting their targets to be in plain sight, before turning around and beginning to leave.

They would have left Galuf in peace right there, if it weren't for the fact that Jecht suddenly groaned. The soldiers, just about to leave, suddenly whipped around, they marched forward through the room, seemingly ready to start a more thorough search.

Galuf grimaced as they moved forward, he moved his head back to look at Jecht. Movement. At least he was starting to wake up, but Jecht would just alert the entirety Gabranth's little army to where they were, so Galuf grabbed Jecht by his shoulder and dragged him under the bed.

Not… the best move, Jecht's frame was significantly thicker then Galuf's, and his body struck the bed as it went under, and the Arcadians clearly saw the movement the bed made as Jecht was brought under.

The two came up and firmly grabbed the bed on opposite sides. Galuf felt an incomprehensible dread build up in him, but it dissolved when he simply concluded that, if he could take both of them out quietly, they won't necessarily be exposed. As the bed was starting to go up, Galuf suddenly rolled out, with a sword in hand. The Arcadians swiftly dropped the bed at the sight of him, though they had only risen it about half an inch. The first one tried to reach for his sword, but Galuf swiftly cut him down simply enough, the second one managed to get his sword out of it's hilt and jump at Galuf, but his sword was simply redirected to the side by Galuf's defensive play, and he was eliminated by a blow across the back.

Now there was a second problem, if the bodies were just left there, they'd be found and Gabranth and Exdeath would know that at least one Cosmos Warrior was there. Galuf did his best to disguise the bodies, placing one under a bed… not the same bed Jecht was under, and leaning one up against the corner, almost like he was standing at attention.

Galuf sat on the edge of the bed, feeling slight relief that no one else knew what had just happened… and then the door swung open again, with him in plain sight.

He had forgotten about the third soldier. The Arcadian peered in the door for a moment, seeing Galuf apparently just relaxing on a bed, the Arcadian turned around to flee, Galuf prepared to chase him, only for a strange grunting noise to break his concentration.

Galuf got his train of thought back on track, but it was de-railed again as a bed was just thrust across the room, straight at the door. The Arcadian was struck and thrown back as the bed effectively barricaded the door, Galuf sat stunned for a moment before he turned around, a fully conscious Jecht standing where one of the beds had once been.

"That is not good… I mean, don't you have any subtlety… That is…" Galuf fumbled for words for a moment until Jecht spoke up.

"Any explanation as to why I was under a bed? Last I recall, I was looking for you after the mine blew up."

"I, uh… well, for one, the itself didn't explode, it was this book at the bottom of the-"

"Whatever." Jecht shrugged dismissively at the explanation, "We have more amateur punks after us, I say we have a party now."

"What? No, Jecht, no." Galuf thrust his arms forward, open palms on the end of them, his frame slightly hunching, "Two of the Chaos Warriors are here with an army, fighting them will just be a repeat of what happened at the mine."

Jecht stared at Galuf for a moment and then rolled his eyes, "I really don't get that kind of thinking. If you can't just fight your way out, what else could you want to do?"

"Oh… brute." Galuf shook his head in aggravation, "We need to make sure the soldier who's on the other side of that the bed isn't still conscious, otherwise this place will be crawling with Chaos backup in a moment."

Galuf took steps forward and grabbed the bed blocking the doorway and pulled back, keeping a firm grip on it, not wanting for it to slam down, on the other side of the room, Jecht simply yawned and watched.

Galud could feel his arms and back beginning to strain from the bed's weight as he finally managed to put the bed neatly on the ground. Peering across it, dread was born as he noticed that the Arcadian was nowhere in sight… and then he heard a door slam.

Climbing across the bed, he looked toward the entrance, someone had clearly just left in a hurry. Galuf knew exactly who that was, now they'd know full well that he and Jecht were here. Galuf simply stood there for a moment, trying calculate a way out of this situation, when the heard the door to the Inn opening again, he saw Judge Gabranth saunter in, followed by four Arcadian soldiers, which Galuf took as his cue to shut the door.

"Okay Jecht…" Galuf took a step back, but did not as much as turn in Jecht's direction. "You're about to be very happy, we have no choice to fight our way out."

"About damned time." Jecht walked up until he was beside Galuf, "These guys are amateurs, they'll never know what hit them when the ace hit's the field."

Galuf squinted his eyes and summoned his sword, Jecht, on the other hand, already had his sword out, they were fully prepared as Gabranth opened the door.

"So, Cosmos' soldiers believed they could hide?" Gabranth took a step forward and knocked the bed that was acting as a barricade off with a simple kick. His unique dual-sided weapon held firmly in his right hand, Gabranth brought it to the front, "Exdeath is busy scouring the city for any other pests, but I'll be more then enough to defeat you two." With that, Gabranth placed both of his hands on his weapons hilt and pulled it in opposite directions, the hilt detached from itself, resulting in Gabranth wielding two small swords.

"Behold the power of a judge." Gabranth charged forward, hoping to end the life of at least one of his enemies in one swift movement, yet his charge was met by Galuf, who brought his own sword up to meet Gabranth's attack. Their blades collided and Galuf pushed forward, forcing Gabranth a step back as Jecht charged forward, Gabranth was about to use his free hand to strike Galuf while he was holding up one sword, but Jecht's charge put an end to that train of thought. Gabranth's weapon met with Jecht's, but the superior weight of Jecht's weapon made Gabranth's defense clumsy, while hiss word was not knocked out of his hands, and his defense endured, Gabranth somewhat lost his grip on his weapon.

With his defense faltering on one front, Gabranth jumped back, reaffirming his grip on the blade that Jecht's own sword hit. With some distance between himself and his enemies, Gabranth placed one arm at his side and pointed the other at his enemies, in response the Arcadian soldiers with him charged, but then, there were only four of them.

The four assailants were quickly struck down, but as the last one died, Gabranth was charging forward again, Galuf, for one, had expected a small second of relative peace before Gabranth attacked again. Gabranth's attack had been sudden, and he brought his right sword arm down and then tore it up, with speed most likely faster then Galuf had been anticipating, Galuf has his sword ripped right out of his hand. It flipped up into the air and jammed into the ceiling, Galuf looked up in the air to see the sword in the ceiling before leaping back as Gabranth attempted another attack.

Gabranth's attack missed and Jecht attempted a charge of his own, something Gabranth aimed to meet. As Jecht's sword came down, Gabranth dodged the downward slash and responded with a massive flurry of his own attacks. Jecht brought his sword back up, and all of Gabranth's attacks met it, unable to break through Jecht's defense, but preventing Jecht from fighting back as well.

This gave an advantage to Gabranth, but it also meant that he wasn't paying attention to Galuf, the aged warrior had leapt up into the air and grabbed the hilt of his sword, stuck in the ceiling. Galuf hanged in the air for a moment, but then the sword came out thanks to Galuf's added weight. He landed on the ground and began storming towards Gabranth's back.

However, the sound of the sword being pulled out of the ceiling, Galuf landing, and his charge at Gabranth's back had not gone unnoticed by Gabranth, who rolled to the side, which caused Galuf to redirect his attack to remain on Gabranth. As he stood back up, Gabranth swung around and sliced his sword across the air, forcing Galuf to stop his charge or risk his throat getting sliced open.

Gabranth paused for a moment, all three combatants being somehow frozen for a moment, before Gabranth backing away and assumed his usual fighting stance. One blade raised firmly above his head, and the other held out in front of him, both blades held horizontally.

The fact that he had sunk into this stance seemed to give Jecht reason to try and attack again, Gabranth sought to meet the attack as Jecht closed the distance, but to his surprise, Jecht feinted to the side just before he would logically try to attack, catching Gabranth completely off-guard, and then Jecht dragged his sword through the air, catching Gabranth's back on the long blunt side.

Gabranth sailed about two feet through the air before he landed, he managed to bring his feet forward and land on them, skidding to a halt along the ground, before turning to face Jecht.

This only invited Galuf, who was now behind him, to try and attack, he flowed to a movement behind the judge and began an attack, only for Gabranth to run around and hit Galuf's forehead with the hilt of his left sword.

Not exceptionally hurt, but disoriented, Galuf took several steps back and moved his hand up to his temple, trying to assess the damage, nothing serious, he could feel a bruise, but nothing more then that.

It took only a moment to focus on the fight again, and now Gabranth was squarely in between them. The judge grunted as he tried to keep both Galuf and Jecht in his sight at the same time without moving too much, yet this was nearly impossible.

Rather then wait, Gabranth decided to press the attack, he moved towards Galuf, who he felt was the less competent fighter, he moved towards the aged warrior, yet as he did he heard heavy beating along the ground that told him that Jecht was attempting to strike him from behind. This wouldn't have been a problem, but the sound of the beatings were becoming very profound, Jecht was reaching him much faster then he would have expected, even as Galuf readied a defense, Gabranth abandoned his attack and feinted to the left.

Gabranth stopped his movement and slowly turned around, Galuf was now prepared to engage in either offense or defense, and Jecht was eyeing him very carefully.

Gabranth shook his head in aggravation, then brought his swords up, linking their hilts together once more. Both blades seemed to begin getting charged with some form of energy…

Gabranth prepared to unleash a second wind.

* * *

**Ah ha... Round 2 begins next time.**

**Please review.**


	23. Preperation

**Mm. I wonder if anyone, while playing Final Fantasy I again, will reflect on this when they're at the Inn in Cornelia.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Gabranth's arms trembled as he raised one of his swords inches above the other, small bits of energy beginning to come off of it. Gabranth reared his entire body back…

"Your life…" Gabranth's entire body trembled for a moment, before he stilled himself, then tightening his grip on his weapon. "Ends at my blade!"

With a sudden movement, Gabranth swung his weapons to the front, in response waves of energy formed in front of him, reaching out for Galuf and Jecht across the room. As the energy solidified into a series of blue crescent moon shaped projectiles, the two rolled in opposite directions to dodge the attack. The blades of energy instead struck the wall, in a showcase of their power, the attack completely destroyed the wall.

For Galuf, the destruction of the wall sparked unpleasant memories of the mine, but fortunately the Inn didn't collapse on them. Still, as the wall came down, a massive amount of dirt and dust was kicked up, it completely swept over the three warriors, leaving them unaware of anything going on around them.

The sound of the destruction of the wall, and indeed, the entire side of the Inn, had alerted the entire unit of Arcadians in Cornelia, along with Exdeath. Exdeath, who had been searching the streets at the time, turned towards the general sound of the destruction he just heard, the Inn itself was blocked out by the other building of Cornelia, but it garnered enough interest out of him to make him divert from his patrol, though as expected of him, he didn't move with any particular speed.

Gabranth attempted to charge through the dust and swing his weapon skyward, only for his blade to be stopped as it clunked against something hard. Gabranth took a step back as it registered on him that his weapon had struck a bed, he turned around and tried to see through the dust. He was thankful for his helm, there was very little chance that the dust and dirt could get into his eyes, Galuf and Jecht, on the other hand, basically had no choice but to fight blind.

However, Gabranth wasn't aware of how Jecht operated off of instinct, and not necessarily his eyesight which resulted in him being more shocked then he needed to be when Jecht came along the side and shoulder-tackled Gabranth across the room.

Gabranth flew through the air for a moment, before he twisted around in the air and came to a halt, his back to one of the still intact walls. It occurred to him that if Jecht could still fight in this kind of situation, it would be prudent to try and get the fight into the fresh air outside.

Furthermore, if he stayed here much longer, he might have… some other troubles, he suppressed the desire to cough and gag from the dust. He could only wonder how much he had just destroyed if it still had not settled down. Gabranth made another charge, heading in the direction of the dust that seemed fairly lighter, which he presumed was light of the sun piercing through. His attempt was about to potentially be cut short as he heard a loud thumping that was getting increasingly louder. The volume of the thumping told him that it was Jecht again, the clanking of Gabranth's armor must have made it obvious when he was moving, Gabranth reflexively lowered his body in the hope that Jecht's attack would sail above his head.

Which, in fact, happened, as Jecht's sword whipped through empty air, but there was another problem in the fact that Jecht had unintentionally approached Gabranth head on. Gabranth's head slid in-between Jecht's legs and proceeded to completely barrel him over, Jecht was slightly lifted into the air before he fell into the ground as Gabranth managed to speed under him.

Hearing the crash of Jecht's body did not slow Gabranth down at all, continuing to move forward, until his vision was clear again as his body escaped the massive dust cloud. Gabranth stopped his movements and turned around back toward the Inn, the dust had… remarkably settled down, but was still big enough to keep anyone in it from seeing anything. Gabranth paused at a moment, palced both of his swords in his left hand, and took his helm off, taking the time to cough out some of the dust that had come into his lungs and shaking his head in aggravation, the use of the Innocence attack may not have necessarily been a good idea.

As his coughing stopped, he looked back up to see Galuf coming out of the smoke, an exceptionally agitated look on his face as he charged toward the Judge. Galuf came forward with the intent on striking down the preoccupied Judge in his moment of broken concentration. Gabranth attempted to reflexively put up a defense, but neglected to remember that both of his swords were in his left hand, Galuf's blade easily moved through the empty air that Gabranth's right blade would have occupied in a more traditional defensive position, and struck a blow against the Judge's chest.

Gabranth was forced back from the impact of the blow, though his armor had not been pierced, his body was still injured by the force of the attack. Galuf attempted to follow it up with another attack, but Gabranth threw both of his blades into the air, the movement presented no danger and indeed, left Gabranth completely vulnerable, but the suddenness of the movement gave pause of Galuf. It gave Gabranth the time to place his helm back on his head and grab both of his swords as they came down.

Galuf suddenly found himself defending from a full barrage of attacks from Gabranth, the speed of Gabranth's attacks, combined with the fact that he was alternating between two different weapon arms, prevented Galuf from mounting an offense.

This might have continued for longer, perhaps until Galuf's defense became lax, but at that moment Jecht dove out of the dust, which was almost completely settled now. Jecht charged forward, yet Gabranth saw the charge and jumped back, but not far enough as Jecht's massive sword managed to strike another blow to the Judge's chest, sending Gabranth flying back through the air with the blunt force of the attack.

Gabranth tumbled through the air before landing face-first on the white tiled ground of the city, he attempted to re-gain his grip on his weapons, only to find that he only clenched his fists. Gabranth looked up across the street in front of him, his swords were on the ground, squarely between him and his two enemies, with a groan Gabranth began to pick himself up, only for his arms to tremble.

"Oh… how hard did I hit you, exactly?" Jecht spoke with mock concern as Gabranth, after a moment of difficulty, managed to bring himself back to his feet.

"Perhaps I shall hit you harder." A voice responded to Jecht. Gabranth's gaze became unspecified for a moment as he attempted to recognize the voice, then he turned around to see Exdeath walk past him.

"You shall not kill Galuf." Exdeath came to a stop a few steps in front of Gabranth, his sword spun into place and the tip landed gently on the stone ground, with his hand on the hilt. "His death is a pleasure I reserved for myself long ago."

With that sentence, a shockwave emanated from Exdeath's center, sending his cape stretching away from him. Galuf and Jecht, across from him, hunched and gritted their teeth as they attempted to retain their footing. Gabranth, on the other hand, somewhat weakened, and right by the epicenter of the force, was rocketed away, straight into the middle of a building.

Gabranth remained stunned for a moment as the blast combined with his weight to leave massive crack damage along the side of the building before his body fell down to the ground, his conscious mind beginning to fade.

Exdeath didn't even turn around at the ally he had knocked away for attempting to kill his enemy before he could, he kept his sight wholly on the two Cosmos warriors before him.

He chuckled at the defiant look from both of them before he raised his hand up. His sword heeded his instruction and moved up beside his head, pointing towards the two Cosmos warriors, ready to begin the battle.

* * *

"So you have returned." Garland examined the returning Emperor with a hard gaze. "Tell me, what has become of Sephiroth."

Mateus's gaze eyed Garland intently. "Sephiroth has not moved from his location for the past few hours, I believe he has found something to occupy his mind." He smirked at the knowledge of what Sephiroth was becoming, the hero of men, but easily led by an authority, whether he knew it or not.

"That did not answer my question, Emperor." Garland took a step forward, his large weapon firmly in his grip, "What is Sephiroth's location, and what is he doing? Ultimecia dodged all my questions concerning him."

"If you are so concerned about him, I shall check on him after Exdeath and Gabranth's assignment is over."

"By yourself?" Garland tilted his head, the Emperor could craft plot after plot, but he had also constantly defined Sephiroth as the most dangerous of the Cosmos warriors, it seemed questionable to think that Mateus would try to meet with the silver-haired swordsman by himself.

"Oh, not by myself, I'll have a certain bodyguard with me." Mateus' smirk grew wider as he pointed behind the ex-Cornelian knight. A certain white angelic-like creature lurched behind Garland. Instinctively sensing the presence behind him, Garland swung around and attempted to slash the creature before Mateus could explain what it was, the only thing that prevented an injury to Absolute Virtue was a sudden shield erected by the Emperor.

"Calm down, Garland. That is my servant." Garland's weapon continued to strain against the shield, but relented a second after Mateus' statement, Garland took a step back to examine the creature. After a moment he desisted with his check and turned back to the Emperor.

"You have faith in this… thing's strength?" Garland made no attempt to hide his skeptical outlook on the creature, "I slaughtered all Espers in my world besides Bahamut, can this thing boast the same?"

"My own power saw to the end of every Esper in my world besides Leviathan, I know of power, Garland." Garland's smirk faded at the knowledge that Garland was placing his power as astronomically above Absolute Virtue's. Mateus was skeptical of his own ability to defeat this creature, so how could Garland do so? It was laughable to suggest such, the fight would end as all involving the creature did… just as Garland believed he was making progress in the destruction he would perish under molten rock.

* * *

Finally the wave extending from Exdeath died down, allowing both Galuf and Jecht to straighten themselves back up. Exdeath chuckled at their determination… then began his attack.

Exdeath pointed forward, his sword charged ahead to meet the warriors, Jecht stepped forward and caught Exdeath's sword on his on. Exdeath's sword strained against Jecht's for a moment before it suddenly relented, as it pulled back Jecht stumbled forward and the sword charged again. Jecht suddenly stepped to the side, causing the weapon to charge past him, then flip around and come back at the ace, who again blocked it.

While Jecht was dealing with the sword, Galuf saw fit to attack the weaponless Exdeath, he took his sword and raced towards the knightly figure, only for Exdeath to calmly place his hands together and generate a terrible wind around him. Galuf jumped back from the tornado encircling Exdeath, patiently waiting for a moment of lapse in the wind. After a few tense seconds the wind disappeared, Exdeath having been picked a few feet up above the ground by his attack, but as he returned his arms to his side Galuf saw that the knight was vulnerable.

He tried another attack, but Exdeath simply swung his arm and Galuf felt a tug on his back, he turned around to see a Black Hole attempting to draw him on, Galuf returned all his attention to the forefront and began running as fast as he could as the Black Hole's unction power increased, yet at max speed all his speed could do was perfectly match the suction. It was agonizing to see Exdeath only a few feet away from him, but unable to close the distance…

Jecht continued to wrestle with the sword, until he noticed he was getting pulled, he turned around to see a black hole behind him, he gritted his teeth and turned his attention back to the sword. He continued to push against the sword, it occurred to him that the sword was lessening the amount of time the black hole would need to consume him… and so he disengaged and rolled to the left. As his body pressed against the stone ground during the movement, he was at the cusp of laughter as he saw the sword charge into the black hole, after another moment he saw Gabranth's twin swords also get pulled in.

After a moment of continued sucking, the black hole finally dispersed. Jecht breathed a sigh of relief as Jecht managed to calm himself down, they both turned their gaze to the now weaponless Exdeath.

Exdeath calmly walked forward and reached his right arm to the side, a flash of light appeared in his palm, and the suggestion of a quick victory dissipated as Exdeath recalled his sword to him.

Galuf steadied himself as Exdeath teleported several meters back in the interest of creating distance between them. He returned his sword to a floating position in front of him, his hand once again on the hilt.

Behind Exdeath, Gabranth began to stand up, he managed to get up straight, before stumbling and being forced to lean his back on the Cornelian building behind him. He lifted his head up and examined the scenario before him, it occurred to him his swords were nowhere in sight between the three combatants, he groaned and forced his body to the left, without his weapons he was useless in a combat scenario, he decided to make an early retreat.

* * *

**Please review.**


	24. Collapse of Cornelia

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Exdeath moved forward with an exceedingly calm and slow movement. His sword moved to block any attack from both Cosmos warriors, he felt no fear of injury, not even the slightest ting of doubt or worry that his defense would falter. He continued his movements as both Galuf and Jecht continued a futile offensive, yet his sword was always there to block them out, Exdeath exuded an ultimate evenness to his movements, believing that he cannot be defeated.

Suddenly Exdeath stopped his slow pace and slightly lifted his arms, his hands moved only a few inches away from his waist, his body shuddered a moment as large globes of white energy appeared in his palms. A deep laugh emanated from inside his helm as he witnessed both Galuf and Jecht backing away from the display, a small circular wind was born around Exdeath's feet, it covered such a small area yet it was strong enough to forcefully dislodge the tocks from the Cornelian road.

Exdeath's sword came to a rest, jamming itself deeply in the ground in front of him, just barely outside the range of the wind. Exdeath let this moment exist for a moment before he let a surge of power come out of his body, the wind's force tore up into the air ripping up, creating something of a wind barrier around the evil knight.

He bent his elbows, lifting his hands up slightly, then he turned his whole body, once to look at Jecht, and then at Galuf, then back to the forefront. One final laugh came from him as he clenched his open palms, the white spheres of power separated between his fingers into four smaller blasts each, with each hand he pointed a finger at one of his assailants, in response each set of blasts went towards a specific Cosmos warrior.

Jecht and Galuf took only one look at this new development before they began running through Cornelia in a bid to escape the white blasts. Exdeath, the only one present to not be targeted, simply walked forward, firmly grabbed his sword and tore it out of the ground, and proceeded to stand there, laughing at the predicament of the Cosmos warriors.

Galuf kept looking over his shoulder at the blasts following him, he suddenly dodged to the left down one of the cities' alleyways, only for the blasts to be able to turn to follow him. A mutter escaping his lips he continued to run, making a silent prayer that the alley didn't stop with a dead-end, his prayers were answered by the alley opening up into the streets again. He moved to the left down the street, it looked like a marketplace, he zoomed past several baskets and stands before he heard a sudden explosion sound, he turned his glance around and found a certain amount of comfort in the fact that one of the blasts had collided with a stand and had blown up.

He still had three more blasts coming at him, and he wasn't allowed even a millisecond to slow down, he continued to run, but none of the blasts met another stationary object. As he moved across the city, he approached the gates of Cornelia castle, he contemplated ducking into it, logically the castle would have a twisting enough design that a few blasts could mis-time a turn in it, but the thought was promptly squashed by a blue light appearing right in front of the castle gates, and an appearance of Exdeath out of the light.

"There is no place you can run, Galuf." Exdeath chuckled as Galuf skidded to a halt at the sight of him and then suddenly darted to the left, the blasts following him at record speed. Exdeath felt that the game was about to be over, gradually the attacks were catching up with Galuf, when he suddenly heard another yell, turning around he saw Jecht, still with all four energy blasts behind him, charging in Exdeath's direction.

The movement his body was making made it clear that Jecht was planning on attacking Exdeath, or, perhaps, he planned to feint to the left and have the blasts explode on Exdeath. Exdeath summoned a blue ring around his feet as Jecht started to come within a few feet of his body, suddenly he teleported as Jecht's sword cleaved through the air he had once been at, Jecht landed and stopped momentarily in disappointment of the failed attack, before he was once again on the run from the white blasts, be began to flee directly towards Cornelia Castle's entrance gate.

* * *

"So, you return only with apologies and excuses?" Ultimecia sighed at Gabranth's report, by his recollection, Gabranth and fled after Exdeath had, intentionally or unintentionally, disposed of Gabranth's weapon. "Yet you believe you're worthy of being a Warrior of Chaos, still?"

"I don't need your lectures, only my weapons returned." Gabranth was already familiar with Ultimecia, and he already disliked her attitude, it was no wonder, he already held disdain for Emperor Mateus, now his… right-hand appeared with almost the exact same attitude and personality. "All magic wielding Chaos warriors have some degree of access to the Void, retrieve my weapons now and I shall return to the field."

"Ha! I would think not, Gabranth." Ultimecia's was wore a malicious smile as she eyed the warrior and his determination to continue fighting. "So eager to continue fighting… I wonder, if you knew the truth-"

"Ultimecia!" Ultimecia jumped at the sound of her name, she looked over her shoulder to see Emperor Mateus approaching her from behind. "I shall see to it that your weapon is replaced Gabranth, despite setbacks, your battle prowess has shown it's uses."

Mateus raised a hand in the air and a black orb phased into existence, after a moment strands of electricity also circled around it, it existed like this for a moment before Gabranth's two swords were ejected from it.

"Gabranth, there are three things you should be aware of." Mateus closed his eyes for a second as Gabranth stooped down to pick up his weapons. "One. Shantotto will soon be with Cosmos y herself, you are to kill both of them. Two. Prior to that, I want you to monitor the battle between Exdeath and the Cosmos warriors from a distance, report the outcome of the battle before you attack Shantotto. Three…" Mateus' face became much more serious. "This is your final chance, victory and accomplished missions have eluded you far too often before. I understand that you know what the price for failure will be this time?"

Gabranth, now standing straight up again, slowly nodded at the warning before he took a step back and turned away, he felt that there was nothing that could deter him from completing this assignment.

After Gabranth was well out of ear-shot, Ultimecia turned to look at Mateus in the eye. "Are you sure that was the wisest course of action? Should he slay Cosmos, all your unfulfilled threads will amount to-"

"He will not succeed." Mateus cut her off, turning his face away from her gaze, "I know every combatant in this cycle, I know their capabilities, Shantotto will defeat him when they engage in combat, and the Judge's role in this cycle will be over."

* * *

Galuf continued to race through the city of Cornelia, three energy blasts still chasing after him, yet every time he felt like he could escape the city, Exdeath appeared in front of him to confine him in. Galuf also had not been so lucky as to have another blast blow up on the terrain of the city, it was as if the blasts had learned from the mistake, to top it off, he had no idea where Jecht was, probably running around a different area of the city.

It felt like the blasts were constantly getting closer, or perhaps it was simple anxiety, his legs still felt fresh, but there was no telling how long the adrenaline would keep him going for. Engrossed in his thinking, Galuf nearly ran straight into a wall, he had gotten stuck in a dead-end with the three blasts closing in on him.

With the blasts closing in, Galuf decided to pull a move he wouldn't have considered otherwise, he drew his sword as quickly as possible and held it firmly in his hands as he prepared to make the action that would either save him or kill him.

"Spell-Blade!" Galuf's sword became enveloped in a white mist as it waited for magic to be transferred onto it, Galuf charged forward toward the white blasts and leapt into the air as the distance closed, he swung his sword once, hoping to catch one of them on his sword.

One of them did collide with the blade and had gotten absorbed inside of it, the two other blasts had moved past his left and right, yet they stopped their movement in the air and immediately began moving backwards back at Galuf. The aged warrior turned around at the two remaining blasts, he braced himself for whatever would happen next, and then he noticed that his arm was trembling.

No, not the arm, it was the sword itself that was shaking, it must have been a very powerful blast it had taken in, yet he forced himself not to think about what would happen if he tried to use the sword for anything, and instead charged toward the blasts again, he swung his enhanced sword, charged with an energy far beyond whatever Adel had charged it with earlier in the war. As the blade matched force with another blast, the sword cut through the white blast, slashing right through, Galuf's movement stopped as the blast he had just attacked destabilized and faded from the damage it had just taken.

Galuf took the moment to gasp at the two close calls he just had, yet the third one wasn't going to give him a chance for a break, it sped forward and attempted to end Galuf's life. Galuf was ready to destroy it with the same move, when he realized his entire sword arm was bouncing around, the sword he was using clearly was not designed to hold whatever power it had absorbed. The blade felt so erratic that he doubted it would move along with him anymore, without thinking he hurled it forward toward the blast.

From the distance on top one of the buildings of Cornelia, Exdeath heard the sound of an explosion and saw smoke rising from a distance, he let out a deep laugh that pierced through all of Cornelia, the explosion could mean only one thing, Galuf had been hit.

Jecht was still charging through the first floor of the Cornelian Castle, all four blasts still following him, he was stuck in a rather confined stone passage, he really needed to be in an area with more room to properly deal with the blasts. He didn't quite have the time to open the doors manually, instead opting to shoulder-tackle them down, though it did occur to him that he could let the white orbs destroy themselves on a closed door but he simply did not have the time for that.

After several rather uneasy minutes with this formula, Jecht burst his way to the main hall of the castle, he was nearly half-way through the middle passage between the support pillar when a thin blue circle appeared in front of him on the far end of the room, light shot up from the middle of the circle, revealing Exdeath.

"This chase ceases to be amusing." Exdeath pointed towards the white blasts behind Jecht, immediately they froze, inciting Jecht to stop his movements as well, when the blasts shot off in every direction, and then they… began bouncing off of the walls and pillars.

"They will now only explode when coming into contact with you, or are otherwise crushed." Exdeath chuckled as Jecht looked frantically around the room in a desperate attempt to keep all four in his sights. His laughter continued as one blast came up upon Exdeath and bounced harmlessly off him, without showing the slightest sign of having actually felt it, or even acknowledging that it had been there.

Jecht jumped back as one blast came right on him from above, bouncing off the floor and back into the air. He then side-stepped when he sensed one coming at him from behind, returning to his original position to escape the path of a third when it skimmed the ground as it approached him.

Severely aggravated, Jecht raised his sword as the final one came at him head on, he placed it defensively in front of him… only to be thrown back by an explosion. It caught him by surprise, before he quickly surmised that Exdeath's explanation about them exploding when coming into contact with him extended to his sword as well.

Flipping through the air and landing back on his feet, falling into a crouched position, the blasts were still screaming through the room, and yet Jecht felt a smirk building on him. Exdeath had also mentioned that the blasts would explode if they were crushed, with that idea, Jecht raised his sword in the air and dove it into one of the pillars around him.

It did not slice through, but it did some minor structural damage, his smirk vanishing, he raised his sword again, but this time he struck the pillar with the blunt side of the weapon. His sword, being used like a club, almost made the entire castle tremble from the force of the attack, at once Jecht saw a series of cracks ascending up the pillar, all the way up to the pillar's connection at the ceiling. As they stopped, the pillar crumbled at the top, falling apart all the way to the bottom, Jecht stared at it for a moment, before he suddenly jumped back, desiring to dodge the falling debris just as much as two of the white blasts that had gotten to a concerning proximity to him.

As he sailed backwards in the air, he watched the rocks, the pieces of the pillar, collapse on the ground. Just as he wanted, he saw the rocks land on both of the white blasts, resulting in a massive explosion, twice, it also shot the debris in seemingly infinite directions, all around the hall, some of the other pillars were also damaged, but none of them collapsed.

Jecht remained paused until the debris settled down and stopped ricocheting everywhere, this development had also broken Exdeath's laughter, as he noticed his attack getting diffused. Yet, he made no movement to attack Jecht, instead he brought his free arm up, and clenched his fist, the last remaining white sphere of energy began to grow in size as it continued to move, becoming at least thrice it's original size.

It's movements became less random as well, while it wasn't actively tracking Jecht, it seemed to always bounce more in his general direction now, and Jecht sought to diffuse it the same way he had taken out the other two. He moved towards a pillar that was still connected to the ground, yet close to the connection to the ceiling it had a large chunk ripped off, Jecht took his sword and swung at the pillar, this time with the sharp end of the sword, cleaving straight through the pillar's base, separating the pillar from all attachments.

The pillar fell a few inches, clumsily landing upon it's base, before collapsing to the left, right in front of Jecht, it carved into the wall to the left, tearing a massive gash that exposed the world outside, as the pillar fell, it also landed right on top of the last blast, culminating in an explosion far outstripping the two previous. Though Jecht was never burned, the expanding force flung him towards the entrance, causing him to land roughly on his back, Exdeath on the other hand, thanks to his much heavier frame, never moved, and the explosion came up along him, the energy snapped at his body, eager for the chance to take someone with it before its short existence was over… but it failed. Exdeath lived, though he was wounded.

Jecht moved to a sitting position as he examined what was before him now, the main hall had more or less become a crater, various bits of debris were still falling, mostly from the now crumbling roof…

Jecht blinked for a moment before he looked back up, the damage to the roof was far too severe to be safe, cracks and other instabilities were being born on it. Then it occurred to Jecht, those had to have been _support _pillars.

Without another thought, he turned around and ran out, it was to his fortune that he had landed right by the entrance to the castle as the main hall collapsed onto itself, and onto Exdeath.

Exdeath attempted to position his body for teleportation, but before he could begin to channel himself, the roof completely caved in, one rock fell onto his left shoulder, disorienting his position, negating his teleport, before he looked up to see the entire roof falling on him, without a ting of fear, with absolute certainty that survival was his, Exdeath was buried under the rubble.

Jecht ran through the streets of Cornelia before slowing himself down to a walk as he assured himself that Exdeath was gone. He turned a look back at the castle, the front of it had utterly collapsed, but the back of it was still erect, he moved his gaze to the forefront to see Galuf, resting himself on a sidewalk.

"Hey, Galuf!" Galuf jumped up at the yell and turned his gaze towards Jecht, "Looks like you got away from Exdeath's little buddies to."

"Oh, you…" Galuf shook his head, "I can only assume what just happened to Cornelia is your doing." Galuf let out a little sigh as Jecht made a small laugh.

"Well, kinda, but Exdeath helped a bit." Jecht felt elated, moving past Galuf to lead them outside of the city, "How did you escape the blas-wait, where's your sword?"

"It blew up." Galuf spoke, whereas Jecht didn't even blink, "I guess you could say that I sacrificed it to take out the last one of Exdeath's attacks."

"Heh, just don't prove yourself useless without it." Jecht didn't even notice Galuf rolling his eyes, "Come on, let's get out of here."

Jecht quickened his pace, forcing Galuf to follow suit, he neglected to ask what had become of Exdeath, but he surmised what had happened to him, or at least what Jecht believed had happened, by his overall casual behavior.

Back at the remains of the castle entrance, the scene had at last stilled, the debris had all fallen and it seemed that all was finally at peace, there was no movement, nothing.

Then one rock trembled slightly, moving against the rocks around it, exposing the black un-lit space underneath it, when a sudden white light appeared from beneath the rock. The light emanated for but a moment, when an explosion was triggered, the rocks and boulders were thrust upward, sailing with a distinct white energy with them.

They stopped and hung in the air for a moment, before making a return trip toward the ground, yet in one spot on the ground stood Exdeath, sword in hand. He paused for a moment, completely motionless, before he began to walk forward, any stone that might have fallen upon him instead fell on a rounded shield that covered him. He kept his sights forward, his eyes gazing upon the path he already knew Galuf and Jecht had taken to leave, he made a silent vow, that they would die next time they met.

Which would be very soon. So very soon.

* * *

**Please Review.**


	25. Reunion

**Hm. Slighter longer time-frame then usual between this update and the last.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

"Ah… nice to have some semblance of safety again, isn't it?" Galuf breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that they were back at Order's Sanctuary. The water, just barely reaching the mid point of his toes, offered a psychological relief for his tired mind, which had been given too many things to worry and stress about lately.

"Whatever. I say the sooner we're fighting Chaos' punks some more, the sooner we get all this over with." Jecht grunted his words out, the shallow water slightly irritating his traveled dry feet, "Man, this water can get a bit annoying…"

"Never mind, Jecht." Galuf shook his head, the only real similarity between him and the ace seemed to be the fact that they were aged warriors. "Besides, it seems we have a bit of a reunion on hand."

Galuf pointed forward, right by Cosmos' throne stood two familiar sights. Laguna and Shantotto were present, looking like they were talking about something. Galuf sped his movements up to reach them faster, Jecht, in contrast, continued at his current pace. The two in the distance were keeping their backs to the two that were approaching them, it took a few minutes before Galuf was close enough to yell at them.

"Hey!" Galuf yelled across the distance, generating a small jump from both of the warriors in front of him, they both turned around instantly, looking more like they were ready for battle, but their expressions and body language softened when they saw that it was allies who were approaching them.

"Where have you been?" Laguna spoke with exaggerated exhaustion, "Do you have any idea how much has happened without you around?"

"We've had are fair share of thugs coming after us with swords." Shantotto smiled, "Though most of them just left me bored…"

Galuf winced at Shantotto's dialogue gimmick, but didn't slow his movements. Right now, the chance to make a more solid team appealed to him, he needed to go back and remember whose idea it was to split up in the first place…

"I imagine you're not the only one with stories to tell." Galuf smiled as the distance closed, "We've been through a fair bit ourselves, if only you saw all the explosions and destruction that the Chaos Warriors pull regularly.

"Ah…" Laguna paused for a moment, turning away, "We… lost someone thanks to their explosions and destruction…"

Galuf tilted his head in curiosity at Laguna's statement, feeling a ting of confusion over why his choice of words seemed to have pained him. Then he noticed, Richard wasn't anywhere in sight.

"Hold on." Jecht moved past Galuf, promptly jamming his sword into the ground and crossing his arms, "Laguna, didn't you go with Sephiroth? Where's Richard? He was with you, right?" He placed his gaze on the small Tarutaru.

"Where Sephiroth is, I haven't known ever since we encountered Gabranth at some strange… tech tunnel." Laguna paused for a moment, thinking back, it was nearly the beginning of the whole war. "As for Richard…"

"Richard died." Shantotto cut in, and instantly silenced Jecht and Galuf with her two words, "That Emperor guy sent Absolute Virtue after him, there wasn't even a slight chance to say bye."

Galuf sat mute for a moment, his good cheer about the reunion had apparently only been a temporary respite. Still, the more allies they had, the less likely it was that the Chaos Warriors could kill them with…

Something occurred to him.

"What's an "Absolute Virtue"?"

"By Shantotto's assessment, it's the ultimate unkillable monster." Laguna turned his gaze to the side, toward the back, "I thought Richard was doing some decent damage to the monster, but then it healed itself and slaughtered him with Meteor."

Galuf again fell silent, not wanting to continue the conversation in that direction, he decided to try and chance it. "I'm sorry for what happened, but, did you manage to kill any of the Chaos Warriors?"

"Oh, uh, both Adel and that white-skinned girl that Kefka always had with her are gone now." Laguna's statement gave Galuf reason to have a smirk form on the edge of his lips… but it was crushed by Laguna's next statement.

"But… that Emperor guy, he found a replacement for Adel, so in that sense they've really only lost one." Laguna returned his gaze to the forefront, taking some small solace in the fact that Adel was gone.

As the four continued their conversation, and began recapping everything that they had gone through, they remained ignorant to a figure standing in the far distance. A rocky area was present beyond the edge of the water that comprised Order's Sanctuary, one figure, who seemed to blend in with the rocks, stood quietly, watching them from a distance.

* * *

Judge Gabranth was on what could have been his final assignment in this war, for right now he was just monitoring the four warriors, according to the Emperor, Exdeath was about to try and attack them. He was doubtful of the chances of him to take on all four by himself, even with the strength of that "Void" he frequently spoke of, though Gabranth was strictly told not to interfere, he was to report the outcome of the fight, and then attack Shantotto after anyone who survived Exdeath's assault left. He was unsure how Mateus knew that the other three would leave her by herself but, there was much about the man he was unsure of.

Gabranth continued to stand and watch, waiting for a battle to commence, a seed of dread began to sprout in his heart, the possibility of having to hide his presence and tail them for a excessive amount of time before Exdeath's attack… it brought no amusement for him. He considered it possible that he might have been sent out just so he could be out of the way of whatever Mateus and Ultimecia were planning…

His train of thought was derailed all of a sudden, when he saw a heavily built armored figure step out into sight, though the four Cosmos warriors remained oblivious to his presence. Gazing upon him, Gabranth noticed that Exdeath had clearly been injured by something, but it didn't look like an attack from Galuf or Jecht… his curiosity was piqued, but he remained distant from the scene.

* * *

Exdeath stopped his movements suddenly, and reared his left arm back, one look at his body language told Gabranth that he was heavily agitated at the moment. He seemed to have no interest in declaring his presence for combat this time, as the white energy phased into existence and began lacing itself around his hand, forming into a single glob of energy that he held firmly in his fingers.

He stood for a moment, the energy continuing to surge and shimmer, before he thrust his arm forward, unleashing the blast. It sailed with remarkable speed, the speed seemed to further confirm, in Gabranth's eyes, that Jecht and Galuf had wounded his pride in some way.

The blast continued to move toward the four warriors… until Shantotto spotted it. Within a second of recognizing the attack, she had quickly erected a Wall behind the backs of Galuf and Jecht, the white mass of energy collided with the defense structure and dispersed upon it.

Jecht, Galuf, and Laguna all focused their attention on the Wall, and the person beyond it, Exdeath stood still for a moment, before disappearing in a flash of white light. He reappeared right in front of the four warriors, on their side of the Wall spell.

Galuf's first reaction was to try and attack, he reached toward his waist, but his hand instead wrapped itself around an empty holster, patting the general area for a moment, Galuf looked down to find that his sword was missing. He inwardly groaned as he recalled that his sword was destroyed in his last encounter with Exdeath, he looked back up just in time to see Jecht attempt to attack Exdeath.

Exdeath raised his sword and met Jecht's attack head on, the two attacks strained against each other for a moment, but Exdeath wasn't forced back in the slightest. After a moment, Exdeath moved his sword-arm forward, forcing Jecht to jump back unless he wanted the knightly figure's sword to cleave through his body.

Laguna opened with a series of gunfire, only for Exdeath to grab the corner of his cape and put it between him and Laguna. The components of the cape made it impossible for the bullets to pierce, instead bouncing rather ineffectively off of the fabric, Shantotto attempted to attack now, firing a blast of Flare, yet Exdeath released his grip on his sword, letting it flow away from him, and then pointed a finger at Shantotto's attack.

At once a small portal to the Void appeared, sucking the Flare in before the portal quickly shrunk to nothing. Then, feeling rather aggravated by Laguna's gunfire, he threw his cape to the side and fired a blue blast of Holy out of his hand. The divine power flew towards Laguna, but he quickly jumped to the side, though he lost his aim on Exdeath as he dodged the attack.

Exdeath recalled his sword to his right hand, grasping it firmly with both hands, black energy was born around him, concentrating into an orb that surrounded him, before suddenly expanding and exploding, sending the four warriors off into the distance across from him.

The four tumbled into the air, until they eventually landed and skidded upon the ground, eventually crashing straight into the edge of Order's Sanctuary.

As the four began to stand up, Exdeath brought his left hand up, concentrating a white energy into it, but he didn't summon a single orb of energy this time, instead he focused the energy until there was a small ball of energy on the end of all five of his fingers.

Keeping the hand pointed toward the warriors, through each blast, remaining on the tip of each finger, bolts of electricity surged out and struck upon each warrior as they had just gotten back on their feet. They all collapsed onto their knees from the attack, even as the electricity continued to surge through them, through it all, Exdeath's laughter could be heard.

"I hope you appreciate this, Galuf, and you as well Jecht." Exdeath paced forward, keeping his left hand up as electricity continued to bolt from the orbs on the end of each of the hand's fingers. "You invited this all upon yourself, so now you reap the benefits of angering me."

Exdeath stopped his movements twenty feet away from the warriors, "Fear not, this will be over soon. Except for you, Galuf." Exdeath laughed again, "For your actions against me, you shall bear witness to the suffering and death of your allies."

The words of the knightly Exdeath caused a sudden twitch in Galuf's body before it went still, no longer taken to spasms from the electricity going through his body, with a loud groan, he managed to force himself to stand up, looking straight at Exdeath.

Even with the electricity paralyzing his body, he began to force himself to move forward, despite his body's protests he began moving toward Exdeath, even without his weapon.

Exdeath quickly recognized Galuf's defiance, and with a miniscule movement of his fingers he heightened the electricity's power. Yet it only stunned Galuf for a moment, before he continued his march toward Exdeath.

Unamused, Exdeath threw his right arm to the side and his sword flew out of his grip, spinning wildly to the side, before arcing to the fore, heading straight for Galuf.

Galuf didn't even flinch as the weapon approached, simply steeling his body…

* * *

**Please review.**


	26. Sorrow of Parting

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

As Exdeath's sword closed in, Galuf reached his burning arms out. As the blade came in, Galuf's hands wrapped around it, suddenly and completely stopping it's movement. Though his hands were slightly cut by the sword as it quickly came to a stop, his grip on the sword remained firm.

Galuf took his left hand off the blade and quickly grabbed the hilt before relieving his right hand of it's grip on the sword. Almost immediately the weapon clunked on the ground, far heavier then any weapon Galuf had tried to wield single-handedly. With a grunt, Galuf placed his right hand on the hilt as well and lifted it up, Exdeath reached a hand out and gave a strong pull, it dragged Galuf forward, but failed to pry the weapon from his grip.

Skidding to a halt, Galuf reflexively spun the blade to the side, allowing it to block the lightning bolts that were being channeled into his allies. It ultimately forced all the electricity to be brought onto him, yet he felt an almost negligible difference in the pain he was feeling, simply holding the blade for another moment.

"S…Spe…Spellblade!"

The energy of the lightning was suddenly called off of Galuf, and proceeded to be drained directly into the sword he was holding. As the electricity drained off of his body and into the sword, Galuf nearly fell limp from the relief he was feeling, but quickly reaffirmed himself.

Exdeath, recognizing what Galuf was doing, clenched his right hand, cutting off the flow of the electricity, and pulled his arm back. He had already granted Galuf power beyond even Mega Flare…

On the other hand, Exdeath could easily use that power himself. Exdeath unclenched his right hand and gave another pull, this one much stronger, in the hope of acquiring the empowered sword, yet Galuf's gripe didn't falter, but neither did he make any attempt to resist the movement.

Momentarily, Exdeath realized that he was about to draw Galuf to a range where he could be attacked with his own sword. Exdeath stopped the pull instantly upon this realization, and proceeded to fire a gust of wind directly in front of him. Galuf, however, upon noting that he was no longer moving forward, quickly spun to the left, allowing the wind to soar past him. Quickly regaining his footing, Galuf charged forward, only a few feet between him and Exdeath now, at striking distance, he made a massive heave of the weapon, only for Exdeath to jump backwards and hang in the air.

"Futile, Galuf." Exdeath raised his left hand up and summoned a white mass of energy and promptly fired it at Galuf, yet Galuf simply sliced the attack to harmless pieces.

Exdeath paused for a moment as he tried to grasp how much power he was trying to fight against… before he attempted a new strategy.

With a movement of both his arms, he summoned a small portal of the Void right behind Galuf, an Almagest spell, with the intention of sealing Galuf in the Void. Galuf felt the air sucking him in from behind, and didn't have to turn around to see what Exdeath had just done, so he simply continued to try and close the distance again.

Yet his fastest wasn't enough, Galuf could feel the wind becoming stronger, and Exdeath seemed to be slowly inching away from him. A very real fear of imprisonment in the Void was realized in Galuf's mind… but that fear disappeared as a blast of Flare flew past him and struck Exdeath straight on.

As the flames attempted to envelop him, Exdeath altered the position of his arms, canceling the Almagest. Looking past Galuf, Exdeath saw where the attack came from, Galuf had stopped his attack from reaching the other three Cosmos Warriors, and Shantotto had attacked him from range.

Thoroughly agitated, Exdeath fired three blasts of energy from his left hand, which moved past Galuf at unbelievable speed, their target was clearly Shantotto. The Tarutaru spun to the side to dodge one, but failed to react appropriately to dodge the second, the second blast exploded on her, the energy of the attack hurting enough, yet the force of the attack also flung her back to skid to a stop along the ground. The two blasts that had failed to strike her flew harmlessly across the horizon.

By the time this had all happened, Exdeath was no longer paying attention to the mage, instead he had to dodge Galuf's attack. He initially dodged Galuf's first over-head swing to the side by spinning to the left, only for Galuf to respond by taking a step towards Exdeath and swinging a horizontal slash, one that struck it's intended target.

Exdeath felt true pain course through him as his armor offered about as much resistance as butter. Staggering back for a moment, Exdeath paused, completely still for a second, before he disappeared in a flash of white energy.

He reappeared behind Galuf, and quickly attempted to grab his sword, only for Galuf to swing around and strike the outstretching arm. With a small howl Exdeath stepped back, but Galuf continued his offense with a second over-head slash that went down Exdeath's chest.

A third slash might have occurred there, if it weren't for Exdeath reflexively using his left hand to summon a mass of white energy and firing it point-blank range right in Galuf's face. A small explosion was generated right in front of the Warlock Knight, Galuf flew back from the attack, landing painfully on his back.

Galuf attempted to stand back up, but his he tried to put his weight on his arms and legs, his legs gave away. As the smoke cleared, Exdeath walked casually through it, both combatants suddenly remembered the stress that Galuf's body was going through right now, this realization seemed to relax Exdeath.

Exdeath summoned huge globs of white energy in both of his hands and fired them at Galuf, hoping to break his body, even if his will remained intact. To his ire, even though both attacks struck true, Galuf kept coming at him, only momentarily slowed down by Exdeath's attack, he was forced to teleport several feet back from another sword slash.

Exdeath attempted the same tactic again, but with one small alteration, rather then fire the blasts immediately, he kept them firm in his hand, and began amassing more and more power into them, even as Galuf began closing the distance between them. In moments Galuf was practically on top of him, and that's when Exdeath released his attack.

It was impossible to tell which one had struck first, but a large explosion occurred at the epicenter between them, covering them in smoke that couldn't be seen through.

It was at this time that Laguna, Jecht, and Shantotto had managed to reach the two warriors, only for their line of sight to be blocked out by the smoke, it made it impossible to see where their ally was.

"Aero!" Shantotto made a small motion with her staff, and at once the smoke was blown away, what they saw was Galuf standing ready, and Exdeath kneeling over.

"I have lost to this… mortal…" Exdeath grunted as he tried, and failed, to stand back up. "So be it, I shall consume you in the Void next time."

"There won't be a next time, Exdeath." Galuf spoke with conviction, and then suddenly gasped as his muscles gave out, but managed to reaffirm his stance. "We'll take care of Chaos, and bring it all to an end."

A small silence was heard… which was quickly broken by Exdeath's deep laughter.

"You remain ignorant of the nature of this conflict… foolish mortal." Exdeath's entire body shuddered, and after a moment he began forcing himself to stand up.

"Do you hear me Emperor?" Exdeath coughed out as he managed to stand up straight, "The Void holds many secrets, including the one you have attempted to hide from us."

With a final laugh, completely triumphant in nature, Exdeath could feel himself fading away from the cycle. As his body began to fade away, he made one final look at the three warriors standing nearby.

"The endgame fast approaches, mortals." He raised his left hand forward, clenched his fist, and swiftly pumped it. "I shall enjoy tormenting those that follow in your footsteps."

With that, Exdeath finally faded completely, leaving the three warriors and the exhausted Galuf.

With Exdeath gone, Galuf finally managed to relax, he let go of Exdeath's sword, itself already fading away, and it collapsed onto the floor. As the stress and adrenaline of the moment passed, Galuf too, collapsed onto the floor.

"Ah… I… wasn't aware… how hard I was pushing myself… there…"

"Wait, Galuf, stay with us!" Laguna was the first that managed to crouch down beside him, "I'm in no mood to lose someone else so quickly, come on, please tell me this is only a nap!"

"Did… didn't realize… just how damaged my body was…" Galuf's body relaxed on the shallow water, a weak smile beginning to form.

"Galuf, are you just going to give up? Come on, you heard me say it at least once, a real ace keeps fighting." Jecht knelt down beside the dying and fading warrior.

"Oh… for us this has been no boon. Must we lose another so soon?" Shantotto didn't need to crouch down to reach an appropriate height, but it didn't change her concern over the aged warrior.

"I… never got… my memory back… but… I know that I once swore to defeat Exdeath." Galuf's smile fully formed as his eyes began to close. His head slowly began to lean towards the left as a gasp of air escaped his mouth, before his body faded out of existence.

"No… not again, so quickly." Laguna squinted at the memory of Richard's death, and now Galuf's. Both had died while trying to assist their fellow warriors, he couldn't… take another one like this.

* * *

At the distant edge of the battlefield, Gabranth quietly looked on, after personally confirming the result of the battle, he drew a deep breath and spoke.

"Exdeath and Galuf… are dead."

Gabranth stood still as a statue for a moment, as if he was expecting a response. In an instant, Mateus' voice responded in his mind.

_That was the expected result. Continue with your mission, I shall see to Sephiroth now._

Gabranth shuddered from the sudden invasion of Mateus' voice into his mind, but nevertheless obeyed. He slinked off to the side to obscure himself from view behind the edge of the base of a rocky cliff, poking his head into view, he continued to watch the heroes, waiting for an opportune moment to strike at Shantotto, and only her.

* * *

Within Castle Fynn, books had been tossed around everywhere, books upon to a random page had been strewn all around the room. At the center of the room, at the desk, stood Sephiroth, he was leaning forward, his arms, quivering with shock, and anger, rested on the desk.

What he had found, what he had read, they all amounted to one thing: Cosmos was only using him.

The books had all repeatedly stressed that they were citing only theories, speculation, and yet, every possibility they mentioned just made so much… _sense_.

One part of him wanted to dismiss them, simply cite that the books were written by Emperor Mateus, that they were misleading lies, but he couldn't do that. He felt, he knew that they were true… yet there was one thing the book hadn't mentioned.

The Emperor had theorized what Cosmos and Chaos were, and had concluded that the war was a repeating cycle, but his research indicated that he had no understanding of how the cycle had begun, or why.

Yet Sephiroth did agree with another one of Mateus' theories, the theory that the original harbinger of disorder, that is, Garland, most likely knew everything about the cycle, what it was far and why it was happening.

Though… perhaps… Sephiroth could find his own way to determine the origin of this war…

Before he could offer anymore thought to the suggestion, he heard a distinctive laugh come through the air.

"Tell me, has my research made sense to you… commander of SOLDIER?"

Emperor Mateus walked into view, a self-satisfied grin creasing his face, as he bore witness to the twisting soul of Sephiroth.

* * *

**After what must feel like an eternity, we finally return to Sephiroth.**

**Please review.**


	27. Confrontation

**Well, Dissidia seems to have a sequel confirmed now. "Dissidia Duodecim Final Fantasy", with both Kain and Lightning confirmed as additions.**

**Though... if that's fake, then that is the most convincing fake Shounen Jump scan I have ever seen.**

**Anyway, onto the fic. I'll gush about Duodecim to people in real life.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Chaos idly sat on his throne. It was his usual position, with his hands folded together… one finger tapping against the chaotic flesh of the other hand. Across from him, here, at the summit of the Edge of Madness, was Garland, he was resting his weight on one knee. As the most loyal of the Chaos Warriors, Garland was the only one who would humble himself before Chaos like this willingly, all others did so out of fear.

Even through his fanged inhuman mouth, a slight smirk developed as he remembered tasting the contempt the ones besides Garland showed him, all of them, they'd all place themselves above Chaos if they could.

His smirk quickly faded however, as a small pain began to pine at him from the back of his mind. Every moment of this cycle, this small pain had grown, at first it had been miniscule, dismissible, but now…

It was still nothing more then what a flea bite would be to a mortal, but the cause of it necessitated investigation, least it grow to something that could distract him.

To the God's fortune, he already knew the cause of this anomaly.

"This world's balance has begun to slip, Garland." Chaos eyed the knight in front of him, he could feel, on some level, he could feel an air of familiarity with this knight, instinctively he was aware of some kind of connection.

"Yes, Chaos." Garland's head, once bowed, rose up to look at Chaos straight in the eye, "The Emperor's rampart use of summons is interfering with the natural flow of magic in this world."

A low, guttural short "hmm" emanated from Chaos' mouth for a moment. The Emperor had been a source of problems for quite some time now, summoning that woman without his authorization… acting as if he was the God if Discord.

"Where is the Emperor now?"

"He has left to attend to Sephiroth." Garland paused for a moment after he finished the sentence, seemingly expecting a response from the demon-like figure before him. Yet… none was made.

"Shall I intercept him?"

"That won't be necessary, Garland." Chaos' eyes twinkled with a red light for a moment, "I suspect Sephiroth is beyond what the Emperor suspects. Especially since…"

Chaos looked up to the sky, or perhaps to space, beyond the lava drenched clouds that stretched to the horizon.

After a short moment of his space-bound gaze, he desisted and returned his eyes to Garland.

"What of the other Warriors of Chaos?"

"Kefka and Ultimecia are here right now. They have been ordered to avoid contact with each other. As for Exdeath…" Garland shifted himself uncomfortably as he prepared his next statement. "Exdeath was defeated by Galuf, who himself expired shortly after words."

Chaos sighed, noting the loss of a third warrior on his side, whereas their enemies had lost only two. Though he suspected that the number of living warriors was about to change again.

* * *

"We need to contact Cosmos." Laguna made a stern face. "I say we head straight for Chaos, we need what information we can get out of her."

"Now that's a plan I like." Jecht raised his sword a moment before jamming it into the ground. "We don't need a fancy plan to take Chaos on, just instinct."

"Shantotto, wait for Cosmos to appear." Laguna turned in time to see an alarmed expression on the Tarutaru.

"Listen…" Laguna anticipated her reaction. "A mage should be able to talk to Cosmos easier then me or Jecht, I wouldn't understand any of her terminology."

"Where will you two go, run right off to face a foe?"

"Jecht and I will head to Chaos immediately." Laguna paused as Shantotto took on a somewhat angry expression. "We won't be looking for any fights until you manage to reach us, we'll go slow, once we re-group, we take Chaos down."

Shantotto's arms slumped down, but went with her allies plan, yet she could attest to having seen and heard better ones.

Laguna and Jecht both walked off, triggering a raised eyebrow from Shantotto, seeing as neither Laguna or Jecht could have known where Chaos was right now. She said nothing, however, and simply turned to Cosmos' throne, made of pearl, and waited for the Goddess to descend.

Far out to the distance, Gabranth took note of the two departures. Shantotto was by herself, just as Mateus said she would be… he remained in position for moment, waiting for a sign of any possible action, but she made none. Just slightly irked, Gabranth reaffirmed his hold on his weapon and began to move toward the mage.

* * *

"So now you see the truth of it all?" Mateus smirked at the silver-haired swordsman, but his expression died to a certain degree when he saw Sephiroth's facial expression not make the slightest change. "Those who led us are Gods, after all. How could we have been anything besides pawns?"

Sephiroth made no reaction that the Emperor could catch, so Mateus allowed another smirk to be born on his face. "But, Sephiroth… if you wish it, we can be allies, together we could easily formulate a way to permanently kill-"

Mateus wasn't able to finish his sentence, Sephiroth suddenly charged forward and slashed with the Masamune, forcing Mateus to jump to the air, then he had to suddenly fly backwards from a second attempted attack from Sephiroth.

"Do I detect… bitterness? Are you… sad?"

"What have I to be sad about?" The first line Sephiroth had spoken in their entire encounter.

Mateus let out a soft chuckle, amused by Sephiroth's insanity.

"You believe yourself to be secure? Simply because you have armies under you?" Sephiroth tilted his head, recalling the figures who had attacked him previously.

"Those insects?" Mateus' smile died away and his face took on a more stern expression, "You believe I would rely on such useless vassals?"

Mateus gripped his scepter hard and gave it a small twirl before striking the stone ground with the bottom of it. At once a multitude of beams of light appeared, shining down on the ground all around both Sephiroth and Mateus. After a moment the beams of light disappeared, leaving soldiers of various militaries in their place, Arcadian, Palamecian, Gestaltian, and Esthar soldiers. They quickly encircled Sephiroth, eagerly waiting for an attack order, but none came.

"Observe what their lives mean to me, Sephiroth." Mateus raised his scepter again, a small movement of his free hand lit the bottom of the scepter on fire, and he brought it down again. The firebolt lingered under the scepter for a moment, before it separated, flying across hundreds of directions, each coming to a stop under a soldier.

Each one did not as much as look at the little ball of flame under them, still anticipating an attack order, it was to their surprise then, when an upward bound stream of fire erupted right underneath them. There was not even so much as a chance to yell or scream before their lives were snuffed out, the fires died quickly, leaving only the ashes of former flesh behind.

Sephiroth did not as much as flinch at the display. He felt no pity for them, his mind was far too warped now.

"This is the eventual fate of all who would oppose me." Mateus took an almost solemn tone to his voice, though it was sarcastic in nature. "I ask you again, Sephiroth, will you join me, or…?"

The Emperor returned his gaze to the silver-haired swordsman, only to find that his facial expression was not altered in the slightest since the last time he rebuked his proposal.

"I see." Mateus bowed his head, a look of disappointment, genuine disappointment, swept across his face, before being quickly replaced with another smirk.

"I should have expected such reasoning skills from an insect like you." The Emperor chuckled again, "Insect… unworthy even of being crushed under my heel… why not entertain yourself with this instead?"

Mateus raised his left arm, opening the palm of it, generating a small red light, he pulled his arm back but the light stayed in it's position. It remained stable and semi-motionless for a moment, before becoming more active, floating above both combatants, all the while growing in size. Once it was roughly the size of the Emperor, it jettisoned into the ground, creating a fiery sky-bound inferno upon the red carpet, which died away almost instantly, leaving a vaguely minotaur-like creature in it's place.

"Adel might be familiar with this incarnation of Ifrit." Mateus smirked as the Ifrit lurched forward toward Sephiroth, who still did not flinch.

"Sephiroth, if you should live, I will be waiting in Nibelheim. You should have some familiarity with that place."

With a final laugh, the Emperor vanished into thin air, even as the Ifrit towered over Sephiroth.

Sephiroth tilted his head up to look at the creature, before smoothly raising his weapon into a more defendable position. With his first movement, Sephiroth glided to the left and cut into the flesh upon the creature's upper left thigh.

With a small grunt that made it clear that the creature hadn't truly been hurt, Sephiroth leapt back as Ifrit slammed it's right arm into the ground, incinerating the stone ground, and sending a small blast of fire up in the air. Sephiroth moved forward, cutting across the right arm, the attack drew blood, but again the Ifrit seemed to not truly be injured.

The Ifrit suddenly ran forward, catching Sephiroth on it's shoulder, it continued the charge, intent on slamming Sephiroth against a wall, but the swordsman easily dislodged himself from his position and jumped up in the air just before the Ifrit crashed into the wall, breaking right through the stone.

The Ifrit grinded to a halt, a growl emanating from it, it looked around, realizing that Sephiroth had not been on it's shoulder when it broke through the stone. It turned around to see Sephiroth approaching it, it charged again, newly-born fire burning out the cracks between his two jaws, only for Sephiroth to suddenly stop his movement, and then vanish.

The Ifrit paused in confusion, but only for a second, suddenly he felt cuts and scars being applied to his chest. In the sudden authentic pain it was feeling, it turned around to see Sephiroth, his back to the summon of flame, the Masamune clutched firmly in his hand. Sephiroth was somehow still striking the creature even though he had already finished his attack.

The pain subsided and ended, Ifrit did not fall to his knees or breath a sigh of relief, instead he charged at Sephiroth again, trying to punch him, only for Sephiroth to raise his sword again. The sword, by itself, likely wouldn't be able to stop Ifrit's attack, but Sephiroth's movement also conjured up a shield of hexagons, Ifrit's fists collided with the shield, and bounced ineffectively off of it. As it attempted to attack again, Sephiroth passed through his own shield and sliced once across the Ifrit's chest, much like his last slice Ifrit felt multiple blows being administered to it even though he had only been attacked once. Sephiroth paused for a moment as the Ifrit grimaced from the pain, before applying a second, more powerful slash, which only hit once, and completely knocked his enemy away.

The Ifrit was flung back, but managed to land on it's feet. It glared at Sephiroth for a moment, before leaning back suddenly, bits of flame emerging from it's mouth, and then it came forward, a massive wall of fire heading straight for Sephiroth. Ifrit could not directly see the outcome of the attack as a fiery explosion was born, but as the smoke cleared, it felt it could believe itself to be the winner, as he saw nothing but ashes where Sephiroth had once been.

It was just about to howl in victory, when it was suddenly caught off guard by four spheres of energy forming around him. Ifrit only had a second before they began to converge on him, and he was affording no time to properly dodge the attack, the dark-colored spheres came upon him and burned against his skin. Through the pain, Ifrit managed to jump away through the air, landing on the other side of the room, it was surprised to see Sephiroth standing calmly right by the queen's throne at the back of the room.

Ifrit closed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest, immediately the ground beneath him began to crack and rupture. In a moment the ground broke away for an inferno, an Ifrit was rising on a almost perfectly rounded molten rock, it easily got Sephiroth's attention.

Sephiroth took to the air, dashing up to reach Ifrit as both of them ascended higher and higher. As Ifrit reached the half-way point of the enormous throne room, the boulder he was one stopped it's movement, he floated up in the air slightly, then back behind the rock. As Sephiroth began to get uncomfortably close, Ifrit raised both his arms and slammed his fists into the rock, sending it sailing back at Sephiroth.

Ifrit let out a self-satisfied growl as the rock came down on Sephiroth and a massive explosion occurred. He continued to linger in the air, expecting to either hear the clunk of Sephiroth hitting the ground momentarily, or see ashes drifting to their resting place. Instead, through the smoke, Sephiroth emerged, still moving at Ifrit with maximum speed, without any time to show anything but pure shock, Sephiroth adjusted his grip on his weapon and made a thrust directly up, spearing Ifrit straight through the chest.

The two combatants lingered for a moment, completely motionless in the air, before Sephiroth pulled his sword out and began falling back to the ground. He landed with a soft click, Ifrit, on the other hand, caused a significantly louder cracking sound as it landed.

It wasn't _quite_ dead, though Sephiroth was sure he had damaged a vital organ. He did not feel any desire to continue the fight, however, and instead turned to leave. His destination was Nibelheim, he had some things to discuss with the Emperor…

* * *

Shantotto felt relieved as Cosmos' essence drifted onto her pearly throne, becoming the Goddess herself in a brilliant flash.

"You seek answers, Shantotto?"

"Jecht, Laguna, and I are heading straight for Chaos' Throne. You must know something about it, so we need you to throw us a bone."

"The Edge of Madness?" Cosmos took a surprised look to her face, something Shantotto had not yet seen her with, "You wouldn't be able to break into there, let alone defeat Chaos with just three people, especially with several Chaos Warriors still out there."

"Then what do we need? Some way to make Chaos bleed?"

"You would need-" Cosmos didn't finish her sentence, her voice cut off by a sight from behind Shantotto.

Shantotto turned around and smirked at what Cosmos had seen, smugly placing her arms on her sides.

Judge Gabranth paced forward, his armor clunking with every step, his weapon firmly in hand. Finally, he came to a stop across from the mage and the Goddess.

"There is no future for the bystander…" Gabranth's mind flashed to Shantotto's near-useless attack on Exdeath just a few minutes back, an attack that had only disoriented Exdeath somewhat. He brought his weapon to the fore, then separated it into two swords, pointing the first blade towards Shantotto. "As there is naught he can defend."

Shantotto's smile grew wider, and she began her distinct laugh. "Of course." she spoke in agreement with Gabranth, "The future is for one to take with brute force." She pointed a finger at Gabranth in anticipation of the battle.

The words of both warriors pained Cosmos to her core, she regretfully diverted her gaze from the two Warriors, even as they began to approach, intending death for the other.

* * *

**Please review.**

**Oh, and please hold Nomura at gun-point until he puts Seifer and Vivi in Duodecim. Thanks.**


	28. Fight To The Death

**Here we go, the one fight that I absolutely felt that I had to do at some point during this story.**

**It's funny, I hear when they were making the first Dissidia, the XII character slot was at one point going to be held by either Vaan or Balthier. I wouldn't mind Balthier personally, but I'm afraid I subscribe to the group that considers Vaan the worst protaganist the series has had yet. (At the same time, I'm also a member of the group that claims Ashe as the actual main protaganist of XII) I still find Gabranth's personality to fit in better with the rest of the cast.**

**Anyway, on to the battle.**

* * *

As the two warriors prepared for battle, Gabranth lunged at the chance for a first strike. He charged on the shallow waters, bringing his swords down close to the ground, so low that they scraped against the ground beneath the water, yet they did not cost him any of his momentum.

The position of his swords was for obvious reasons, Shantotto was much shorter then his typical opponent, and he needed to be striking lower then he usually did. In his own world, it wasn't often that he was fighting the Moogles, after all.

Shantotto, on the other hand, was very used to fighting Hume sized targets, and immediately set up a Wall spell between herself and Gabranth. A green Wall of magic appeared to defend her, but when Gabranth came up to it, he brought both his swords up to the fore and almost effortlessly broke through the Wall, Shantotto's defense shattered like glass.

It wasn't to say that Shantotto had not expected this, however. She had encountered Gabranth earlier in the war, and had a general idea of what to expect from him, by the time her Wall had been destroyed, she had already moved to the left, swiftly followed by Gabranth. She made her first attempt to stop him with a barrage of flames in the form of a Fire spell, yet Gabranth responded by stopping his movements and spinning his twin swords at a high speed. Every blast of fire was caught and negated by his blades, and Shantotto was forced into a retreat as Gabranth closed in on her.

Yet, her short legs could not muster the same speed that Gabranth's legs allowed him, and she resorted to an attempt to slow his movement. A small grin appearing on her face, she let a surge of magic go through her arms and into her staff, it hovered in the air as she released her grip on it, it began spinning at an excessive velocity and flew directly towards Gabranth. The Judge raised both his swords in defense, and Shantotto, through her magic, commanded her staff to stop, and promptly arced back, away from Gabranth, and then back toward him, striking at Gabranth's unprotected legs.

The staff struck hard, and Gabranth was knocked off his feet, he landed face-first in the shallow water, but picked himself up before even a half-second had passed. Shantotto had already exponentially increased the distance between the two of them, but Gabranth was still the faster in terms of movement, the mage resorted to another stalling tactic. As her staff returned to her, she made a sweeping motion with her right arm and a field of green energy surrounded Gabranth, ever-so-briefly locking him in place.

The energy dissipated almost instantly, but Gabranth continued to stand still for another moment, looking around in anticipation of a follow-up, it was the reaction Shantotto had hoped he would make. She made another sweep with her right hand, and Gabranth suddenly felt a change in the movement of the water by his boots, he looked down to see a bubbling concentration directly beneath him, and reflexively dodged to the side as a geyser of magical water exploded right where he had been standing only a second ago.

With the distance between them now secure, Shantotto had every attention of keeping Gabranth away from her, and began her next attack. Gabranth felt all the warmth around him suddenly die, he was forced to dodge forward as a massive sharp chunk of ice slammed into the ground where he had been only a moment ago. As he landed on the watery ground he swiftly rolled into a crouching position and turned back in Shantotto's direction, only to see a massive Flare flying straight at him.

Reflexively, he realized Shantotto was playing keep-away as he turned and ducked behind a large pearl formation that was poking out of the water. The Flare exploded just as it passed him, and he felt the wind of the aftermath pushing him into the formation before dieing down.

He paused for a moment, eager to catch his breath after dodging all three of Shantotto's attacks, and then suddenly an idea struck him.

He fused his two swords back together on their hilts to free up his left arm, with that left arm he grabbed his helm and removed it before chucking it away in the spot the Flare spell had exploded on.

As the smoke cleared, Shantotto sized up the after-effects, and relaxed herself as she recognized Gabranth's helm resting in the water on it's side. She smiled smugly as she thought about how short the battle had been and paced forward to get a closer look at the helm. Gabranth, on the other side of the pearly obstruction, quietly and methodically unlinked his weapons and pressed himself against the small wall, using the volume of Shantotto's steps to gaze how close she was.

Shantotto finally reached Gabranth's helm, she was just about to laugh, ignorant of the fact that, behind her, Gabranth had begun to reveal himself from his stealth. With only a few feet between them, Gabranth began his attack, he charged forward at full speed, with footsteps making audible splashes as his armor clunked along with them, Shantotto turned around in the direction of the sounds just in time to see Gabranth bring his weapon low and tear it up, slicing against Shantotto's side and dragging her up in the air, level with Gabranth's head.

Swiftly Gabranth linked his weapons back together and made a full 360 degree spin with his weapon, it wasn't just his weapon that could strike with this particular attack, and Shantotto took another heavy blow as she was flung away. Gabranth wasn't finished with his attack just yet, however, he unlinked his weapons once more and charged toward the Tarutaru through the air, he slowed down as he reached her and swung his left blade underneath her horizontally, the movement summoned a small tornado that dragged Shantotto right up to the top of it before finally flinging her away.

Gabranth fell professionally back to his feet as Shantotto, in the distance, crashed face-first into the shallow water before rolling onto her back.

Feeling that he had delivered more then critical damage, Gabranth turned around to retrieve his helm, it would not have done well to disallow himself head protection.

He was putting his helm back on, so he didn't quite notice, but a series of dark circles where beginning to bind him in place, he didn't realize what was happening around him until he put the helm's eye-holes into alignment with his own eyes, by then it was too late.

The dark symbols circled around him and held him in place, he could still move semi-independently, but he couldn't really go anywhere. With a sudden realization, he turned his gaze back toward Shantotto, the mage was already standing again, and had one arm pointing towards him, an air of magic surrounding her fingers.

Once again, Gabranth felt a movement of the water underneath him, he looked down and instantly realized that Shantotto was trying her magic combo attack again, he tried to move but he couldn't break through what was binding him.

The water shot up and washed over him with it's power, the speed of the water testing the strength of his armor, yet even as the attack ended and the dark symbols dispersed, Shantotto's attacking continued.

Gabranth had been deposited onto the ground on his back, and he regained visual orientation just in time to see a giant chunk of ice materialize above him and crash down onto him, triggering a flash of pain unlike any he had yet endured in the war. As his body reacted to this new development, he reflexively knew that Shantotto would try to fire another Flare spell, yet, reflexively or not, this realization came too late. He looked toward Shantotto just in time for the Flare spell to hit him face-first, throwing him backwards in the air.

Shantotto was ready for what she considered her greatest attack, she used a Teleport spell to get right up to Gabranth as he moved, and fired another blast of magic at him through her staff, striking the Judge dead on. Her attack was supplemented by an extra volley of magic ejected from her right hand which trapped Gabranth in a vortex of magic energy.

She moved on to the final phase of her attack, a sudden chain of Flare, Flood, Burst, Quake, Tornado, and finally, Freeze. Then finally, her brutal merciless counter-attack came to an end with one final magical explosion that covered Shantotto's field of vision with dust and smoke.

She was certain that there was no way Gabranth could still be standing after that, but she was in no mood to take any chances, her body still feeling the injuries of Gabranth's own sudden extreme attack. Even so, it was still to her surprise to see Gabranth walk out of the smoke.

"What…? How could you still be alive?" Shantotto disbelieved her own ways, "How could anyone take every blow from that and not take the dive?"

"Futile, Shantotto." Gabranth answered, though he himself wasn't looking quite as firm as his words, he was limping on his left leg, and his right arm trembled as he raised his right sword at the mage.

"Long have I walked in hatred's company. As long as I can still curse Cosmos and her warriors, I shall not die."

Almost immediately, the drive and energy he could draw from sheer hatred filled him, at once all physical and mental damage to his body seemed to dissipate from his mind, though he would only be able to repress the reality of the damage to his body for so long.

Yet that physical damage wouldn't remain much longer, he brought his two swords together at their hilts once more, and paused. Shantotto's eyes widened in realization of what he was doing, and she tried to intervene with a Wateraga spell, but as the bubbles attempted to converge on him, not one of them touched him.

Having gotten his Renew off just in time, Shantotto's attack succeeded in nothing, and now she, still heavily injured, was left to face a Chaos Warrior at the peak of his health.

* * *

Sephiroth had arrived in Nibelheim, the town was completely motionless, as if bracing itself for something. That bracing would be well-founded, considering what was about to happen. Sephiroth paced through the town, looking for any sign of the Emperor, yet there wasn't even the faintest sign of any recent activity in the area, as he continued to wander for even the slightest evidence of a presence besides his own, but there seemed to be nothing, the thought of the possibility that the Emperor had lied to him crossed his mind.

That thought dissipated, however, as he heard a strangle whistling noise, not quite the same whistling one would hear from a person's mouth. It was more like the kind you heard when something was… falling.

Sephiroth immediately jumped to the left as a huge spear jammed into the ground of where he had been standing just a moment ago. He rolled through the air and spun his body to keep himself facing the spear that had come down as he landed.

The spear just stood there for a moment, and Sephiroth was feeling tempted to look up in the air to determine who had thrown it, but a part of his mind told him it would have been risky to take his eyes off the weapon itself. After only a few more seconds, a white figure came down and twisted a massive hand across the spear, the large, almost angelic, figure pulled the spear out of the ground and directed it's gaze at Sephiroth.

"This is a message from the Emperor…" the white figure spoke as Sephiroth raised his arms up and summoned the Masamune in a flash of light.

"…I await at the Nibelheim Core." The creature finished, bringing it's spear to it's side as it raised it's other arm, open palm toward Sephiroth.

"I am Absolute Virtue. The Emperor had instructed me to kill the silver-haired man who would come."

Having finished the pre-loaded message the slave collar on it's neck had instructed it to give, Absolute Virtue tightened it's grip on it's spear, readying itself for combat.


	29. Death of Virtues

**So, update.**

**012 is going to be a prequel to Dissidia, which leads me to ask... what the hell am I writing?**

**Dissidia's plot made it sound like the war had been going own for hundreds of years, but evidentially it was only the 13th cycle of the war, and 012 is the 12th cycle. Yet there's a second currently unknown meaning to the "012".**

**Guess I now have to say that this story is the 11th cycle... eh, it's fun to write anyway.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

The fight had resumed, advantage: Gabranth. The Judge moved forward with surprising speed for someone in his armor, speed Shantotto couldn't properly match, especially with her own injuries, but she managed to get into a run.

Her speed alone couldn't put distance between her and the Judge, so she resorted to using magic again. She twisted her upper body around to get a better look at Gabranth and tried to point blasts of magic at him, yet she could do no better then simply aim in his general direction. Most of the attacks simply missed outright, and the ones who were semi-close to their intended target were dodged with a fairly simple motion from the Judge, all the while he was closing the distance.

Suddenly she erected a new Wall, only for Gabranth to simply tear through it as if he was charging through fragile glass, in a moment of desperation she casted a Quake spell. The attack never properly reached Gabranth, but the distortion of the ground made him pause his chase and come to a halt, Shantotto took the moment to catch her breath.

After only a few seconds, Gabranth linked his weapons back together, his arms trembled with energy as his weapons began to take on a red shine, reflexively Shantotto placed three Wall spells between her and Gabranth. After charging for a few moments, Gabranth unlinked his weapons and swung both swords in rapid succession, each swing generated a blue crescent shaped projectile that raced toward Shantotto's Wall spells.

Throughout the war, the Wall spell was becoming less and less reliable, Gabranth's attack easily ripped through all three of her Walls and began moving straight toward her. She quickly jumped to the side, to her fortune, the projectiles weren't homing in on her, they continued to move toward the location she had been standing at earlier, and promptly flew off in the distance.

Feeling just slightly relieved, Shantotto looked up above her to see Gabranth falling through the air, clearly having cleared her Quake with a simple jump, Shantotto immediately responded to Gabranth's aerial approach with a giant fireball from her staff, but Gabranth easily twisted to the side… only to feel the brunt of an electrical attack from Shantotto's hands, paralyzing him in the air.

Gabranth felt the pain course through him for a moment, briefly forgetting about the battle as his body reacted to the electricity, but he quickly gathered his senses. With a swift motion, he swung both his swords across his field of vision, somehow the defiant motion not only stopped the electricity from harming him anymore, but also resulted in a great force spreading out with him at it's core.

Shantotto was ripped off her feet from the force and flung backwards, she spun through the air and landed on her feet, regaining orientation just in time to see Gabranth landing and beginning his charge again. Shantotto made a swing with her staff, summoning a blast of water, several gallons of water were thrown at Gabranth, more then enough to knock him down, but the water was condensed in a single orb of liquid, with Gabranth casually sliced through with his left sword, then using his right sword to cut through a blast of fire that Shantotto had sought to hit him with.

Yet, he had not anticipated a third attack, with another motion of her arms, a solid wall of rock rose from the shallow water, suddenly and instantly cutting off Gabranth's charge as he came to a halt to keep himself from slamming face-first into it. Gabranth's first thought was to simply move around it, only for him to sense a chill in the air, he looked up just in time to see a massive shard of ice slam down on him, knocking him to the ground.

Shantotto heard the crash of the ice, but couldn't confirm if the attack had hit, or succeeded in it's purpose. Her answer came swiftly, with the sound of breaking stone, Gabranth broke through the stone wall, the frigid looking mist around him made it obvious that the ice shard had hit him, but it hadn't defeated him as she hoped.

Shantotto tried to run, but there was too little room between the two when she began, she had only managed three steps away before she felt Gabranth's sword on her back. A slash from his weapon dragged her up in the air, the Judge then proceeded to twirl the blade through his fingers before reaffirming his grip and pointing the weapon at the Tarutaru, suspended level with Gabranth's head. As soon as he pointed, an explosion occurred a the tip of the blade, first burning Shantotto before sending her rocketing away, landing face first in the water before rolling on her back, then to her side.

Feeling critically wounded, Shantotto had at least landed in a position where she was facing Gabranth, she could see him, clearly believing that he had won. He was no longer charging, but instead marching toward her slowly, his two sword linked back together. He continued his march until he came right up to her and then he came to a stop.

"To think this sought to challenge Chaos…" Gabranth raised his weapon slowly, pointing one end of the linked blade at Shantotto. "I, Judge Magister, condemn you to oblivion."

A groan came from Shantotto as Gabranth started to swing the weapon down, then she suddenly raised her staff in defense. Gabranth's weapon touched the side of the staff, splintering wood from the magical instrument, but it did succeed in slightly mangling Gabranth's aim, his weapon instead stabbed into the ground to Shantotto's side, rather then going straight through her head.

Taking her opportunity, Shantotto quickly scrambled to her feet and casted two spells in quick succession. First a Blitz spell, electricity came at Gabranth suddenly before it arced down and then raced up in the air, Gabranth was caught off-guard by the sudden alteration in movement, as the electricity came back up the electricity struck his right hand. As the electricity generated pain from his hand into his arm, he accidentally dropped his weapon, he turned his head toward his linked swords as they came landed in the shallow water.

As he made a mental curse, he looked back toward Shantotto to see her second spell, a Flare spell was suddenly shoot from her palms, without thinking Gabranth dodged to the left, unfortunately this put distance between him and his weapon, a fact that registered at him as the Flare flew past him. Gabranth charged, heading straight for his weapon, yet Shantotto frustrated his attempts with a swing of her arms, chilling the molecules of the water he was running through, the water turned to ice and he quickly slipped, he tumbled and fell on his side, but quickly turned and rolled back onto his feet and lunged for his linked weapon.

His hand skimmed the surface of the water as the two handles of his weapon were scooped into his right hand. He twisted his body again and landed on his feet, turning toward Shantotto, she had taken several steps back and was casting another spell, but she was taking her time… charging it. He didn't want to risk another spell being fired at him, a mage like her… she could easily turn this fight around.

He charged back toward her, hoping to end the fight now, Shantotto's charge was only moments away from completion, on an instinctual level, Gabranth knew this, but he reached her just a moment sooner. He stabbed down with his weapon only for Shantotto to break from her charge to fire a sudden gust of wind from her palms, the wind was strong enough to force the Magister off balance, delaying his attack by a single second.

Yet that single second of delay would cost him dearly, Shantotto had returned to her charge, and finished it. A smug smile reaching over her face, she fired the Flare to end all Flares… at point blank range. Both combatants were immolated by the blast, but Gabranth undoubtedly had the worst of it, the Flare having slammed directly into his face.

Both warriors flew back from the force of the attack, they both landed on their backs on the water. Gabranth was the first to regain awareness of the world around him, the first thing that occurred to him was that he couldn't see anything, only a black darkness, sitting up, he quickly realized he was still at Order's Sanctuary, he could feel the water by him. Raising his left hand up, he grabbed at the top of his helm and pulled it off of his head, vision of the soaked throne returned to him, he dropped his helm into his lap, the helm's "face" looked to have been partially melted, the eyeholes had been sealed as super-heated metal had dripped down before hardening again.

With a small groan, Gabranth chucked his helm over his shoulder, he looked down at his right hand, allowing himself a smirk on how he had managed to maintain a grip on his weapon. Then he realized he was still in a fight, he looked back in Shantotto's direction just in time to see a single bolt of lightning come and strike him directly in the chest, he was lifted right out of the water and away from Shantotto, the origin of the electrical attack, before one again landing on his back.

Far more aware of his circumstances this time, he quickly rolled over and got on his feet, only then did he realize just how exhausted he was, he staggered when he attempted to move toward Shantotto, that Flare spell didn't appear to have seriously damaged anything besides his helm, but he felt truly exhausted. His feeling of hatred, hatred of the thought of facing Ultimecia and the Emperor if he lost this fight… it must have allowed him to ignore the damage his body was receiving. He looked at Shantotto once more to see her finish the casting of another spell.

In just a moment, a stream of white energy appeared from her hand and began flying toward Gabranth, he tried to dodge, but the subtle physical damage from the last Flare spell prevented his legs from reacting quickly enough, the stream came up and expanded enough to engulf his entire body. Gabranth's body arched at the pain, until finally the white energy dissipated, Gabranth took a flew trembling steps back, breathing heavily.

He coughed suddenly, and Shantotto began cautiously approaching him, Gabranth gritted his teeth and pointed his linked weapon at her, only for the weapon to tumble out of his trembling fingers.

"Have you your fill of this?" Gabranth gasped for more air as Shantotto reached a close distance to him, the outcome of this battle in no further doubt.

"Never thought I'd find anyone who could cause so much trouble for me." She smiled her smug smile, "Your world is one I'd like to see."

Gabranth grunted as the life left his legs, he fell into a kneeling position. He was contemplating trying to attack Shantotto again, even without his weapon, before he noticed bits of purple energy beginning to encircle him, Shantotto noticed as well, backing away from it, sinking into a battle stance once more.

Her reaction allowed Gabranth to confirm that he wasn't delirious, but at the same time, he knew what the purple energy signified.

"No… not yet. Ultimecia… don't summon me back yet… don't…" It was too late, the energy completely enveloped Gabranth, and then dissipated, and the Judge was gone.

"Well, I guess he didn't give Ultimecia a good enough supplication." Shantotto smirked again despite her own injuries, before turning back to Cosmos' throne, only a few meters away from her current position, she began a small trek toward the Goddess. "Now then, do you have any information?"

* * *

Sephiroth made the first move against Absolute Virtue, swiftly and gracefully moving forward, he made a total of eight slashes with the Masamune, yet not one hit his target. Absolute Virtue had merely backed away when Sephiroth approached.

Absolute Virtue saw an opening in Sephiroth's defense after his attack and attempted to exploit it. It came forward, fully planning on killing Sephiroth with one attack, but when it made an underarm thrust, Sephiroth simply spun to the side and struck a blow across the creature's side.

Absolute Virtue made no apparent sign of discomfort, it swung it's spear across its field of vision, striking and tearing through a nearby building, but failing to harm its silver haired target. Sephiroth had simply rolled under the attack, but when he attempted to strike, Absolute Virtue backed away and swung its spear again, this time catching Sephiroth on it, it continued the swing, hurling Sephiroth after it when it suddenly stopped.

Sephiroth tumbled through the air, but when he began to approach the side of a building, he twisted his body so that he simply landed with his feet first on the building side. The wall was strained, but it did not break or even crack, and Sephiroth jumped back before gravity took its natural course.

Sephiroth flew back at Absolute Virtue, ready to strike again, but the creature let out a sudden shrill cry, nothing strong enough to irritate Sephiroth's ears, but something about the cry gave him pause, he spun out of his attack and landed evenly on the ground.

He raised the Masamune in defense as Absolute Virtue flew toward him, attempting a running thrust instead Sephiroth jumped to the left and struck a blow on the creature's side as it moved past him, the opposite side of the one he had injured earlier.

Absolute Virtue stopped only a few feet past Sephiroth and turned around with a massive swung of its weapon. Caught off-guard by the suddenness of the attack, the creature's spear knocked the Masamune from Sephiroth's hands, flying through the air behind him, landing softly on the ground.

Suddenly weaponless, Sephiroth was forced to flip backwards to dodge a second swing of Absolute Virtue's weapon, he landed on his feet several meters from the creature, but he had overleapt, his weapon was now between both him and Absolute Virtue.

Yet, Sephiroth was not helpless. Not entirely. He couldn't explain it, couldn't hope to, but somehow, reflexively, he knew a way he could fight the creature, he raised his right hand behind him, bent at the elbow, and there was a curious black stone in his hand. He had reacted on instinct, even he wasn't aware of what this stone was, but somehow…

Energy charged around the stone, and the air above both combatants distorted briefly. It's curiosity piqued, Absolute Virtue looked up to see a large meteor coming down upon it, it immediately turned and stabbed right into the middle of the meteor with its spear. Sephiroth returned his arm to his side, the black stone itself, and all thoughts about it, suddenly vanished, his mind concentrating entirely upon reacquiring his weapon.

As Absolute Virtue's weapon went into the core of the meteor, it splintered, red molten rock fell all over the creature, burning its skin, but offering no serious injury, compared to what would have happened if the entire thing had hit him.

It turned around to see Sephiroth running, then hunch forward suddenly to bring his arm into a position where he could wrap his fingers around the hilt of his sword before returning to a more erect position.

Sephiroth leapt into the air, intending a strike against either Absolute Virtue's head or chest, but it raised its spear in defense. Sephiroth responded by landing on the risen spear and jumping again, flipping around in the air and slashing down the creature's back.

Absolute Virtue suddenly howled in pain and twisted itself around with a swung at Sephiroth who leapt back from the attack. Absolute Virtue stood still for a while, seeming to simply gaze upon Sephiroth, when suddenly a surge of white magic coursed through its arms, and then it poured into its pain body. At once all its wounds began closing and disappearing, Sephiroth didn't feel even the slightest ting of disappointment or doubt as the creature returned to the prime of its health. It's next action, however, might of given Sephiroth reason to worry…

It raised its arms up in the air and the air distorted, but on a far more massive scale then Sephiroth's meteor attack. The swordsman turned his gaze skywards to see dozens of meteors suddenly falling through the air, without a moment spent thinking he turned his full attention to the falling rocks.

He spun to the left as one rock landed, and flipped backwards to dodge the second. As a third came down he leapt up and grabbed onto the edge of a balcony before dodging through the air as a fourth came down and destroyed the building, as a fifth came upon him he vertically sliced it in two with the Masamune.

Yet the sixth caught him on it's surface, it forced him into the ground before it exploded. Then a seventh… and an eighth… more meteors continued to come down where Sephiroth was. All in all, a total of twenty meteors came down.

As the smoke grew, Absolute Virtue approached the scene, expecting to see a deformed corpse after the ash and smoke dispersed. Instead, before it completely dissipated, something suddenly darted out of the smoke, Absolute Virtue tried to follow it but it moved far too quickly.

It moved up in the air and then turned around to face Absolute Virtue, from the general shape it could tell that the figure was Sephiroth, and he was coming down on him now. Sephiroth was coming down hard and fast, his sword straight down, he came upon Absolute Virtue and ran it through, into the chest and out through the back.

The creature paused, motionless for only a moment, then its body suddenly started convulsing from the pain, it tumbled on its back, managed to throw Sephiroth off without his weapon from the sudden movement. Yet, this was something it had not actively sought to do, and after a moment its movements began to slow, it reached out in an attempt to grab the sword, only for Sephiroth to appear and grab his swords hilt, forcefully pushing it even farther down. Absolute Virtue grimaced one last time before it fell motionless, resting upon the ground, Sephiroth rose the Masamune out of the creature's chest.

Removing himself from the creature's chest, Sephiroth took a look back at where the meteor had knocked him into, a fair size crater had been born, and the buildings around the crater had been set on fire. If allowed to persist, the entire city would likely be set ablaze, but this was not his concern, his only interest now was reaching the Emperor, be turned and walked in the direction of the Nibelheim Core.

* * *

**Please review.**


	30. Truth Revealed

**Well, I was going to mention a lot of 012 things I learned since my last post, but I relent to keep my AN from looking more like an update list. Instead I'll leave you with a few basic facts.**

**Cloud's default outfit has been slightly redesigned to be closer to his Amano artwork.**

**Going into EX Mode no longer interupts an enemy's combo, we have something new called "EX Revenge" for that. EX Revenge interupts an emey's combo and completely drains your EX Bar.**

**Destiny Odyssies don't return per-say, but the game will still have a story mode. An interesting point is the presence of a Chaos story, wholly seperate from the Cosmos story.**

**That last point bugs me a bit, as much as I'd love to play as Garland and Sephiroth and the like in a story mode besides the Distant Glories and Inward Chaos, but the idea of having a wholly seperate Chaos story, the idea of going through a Chaos story and killing the likes of Cecil and Cloud just doesn't feel right. Hopfully it's more of a con-current sidestory and I just read the source wrong.**

**Vaan's voice-actor has finished recording for a new project, this *could* mean that Vaan will be in 012, but it's undetermined as of right now.**

**Right then, on to my fic.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Emperor Mateus found himself surrounded by kinds of research files, none where his own doing, merely another physical object that had been brought to this world when the two gods created it. These research files were filled with detailed accounts of the atrocities that took place here, they would have been appalling to the average man, but they generated only a smirk on the edge of Mateus' face.

_Hojo… if you had been born a Palamecia, you'd have gone on to much grander things then Shinra could possibly offer you._

Mateus' smirk died away as he continued reading, his own research into every world had already told him that much of the research here was riddled with inaccuracy. The root of the research was flawed, and thus the tree and all its branches were useless, they had failed to realize a few basic facts about Jenova, but against Sephiroth, even these misinterpetations would have their uses. That is… if he survived fighting against Absolute Virtue.

As if to answer his question, he heard footsteps, and there was no one else who even knew of his location, he had frequently worked somewhat independently of the Chaos Warriors, though it was true Chaos could have found him easily enough if he wanted to. The god had taken a rather complacent role the entire conflict, not that Mateus had minded, it made his life, and his plans, much simpler.

Yet…

Emperor Mateus' thoughts were cut off as the door behind him swung open, without even turning around, Mateus knew full well who was standing there, Sephiroth, Masamune in hand.

"Well done, Spehiroth. I would have expected Absolute Virtue to have destroyed you, but it seems there is more strength cunning in you then I expected." The Emperor still did not bother to turn to face the swordsman, but merely chuckled.

"I have gained an understanding, that is all. I shall further understand this world, without your assistance." Sephiroth tightened his grip around his sword, "The future you see is an illusion, the future I see, is truth."

With another slow laugh, the Emperor turned around, drilling his gaze into Sephiroth.

"The future I see is an illusion is it?" He laughed again, "You had best hope you have the strength to take the future from me."

Mateus reaffirmed his grip on his staff and just slightly leaned back as he raised the staff up off the ground.

"You should consider what I'm about to do a great honor…" the left of Mateus' lip curled into a smirk, "I will kill you personally."

Sephiroth raised his weapon in his usual stance, remaining motionless, but a smirk of his own graced his lips as he felt the surge of energy encircling Mateus.

The humbling of Emperor Mateus was long overdue…

* * *

Gabranth coughed as he hunched down, missing his helmet, Ultimecia right before him. He was enraged and agitated, but more so, he was confused. He had been told to defeat Shantotto or he would die, so why recall him? Unless… she wanted to mock him before she killed him.

"I did not ask to be recalled." He had tried to hide his anger, but it came out as an unmistakable growl, which served only to amuse the witch.

"Oh? So you believed that you still had a chance to win?" Ultimecia released a soft laugh at the Judge's defiance. "I wonder if you'd be so eager to return if you knew…"

"What?"

Ultimecia's eyes twinkled in a light that seemed, somehow… sadistic. "Oh, why not, you would have died if I hadn't taken you back." She grinned at the continuing look of confusion on Gabranth's face.

"What will you do when you learn you're just a pawn in the god's game?"

"A pawn?" Gabranth's eyes trailed away for a moment, then returned to concentration. "Of course I'm a pawn, Chaos wouldn't bother himself with the wants and cares of a single warrior."

Ah, but what if I said that Chaos was also a pawn?" Ultimecia's smile faded slightly, taking on a more serious expression as her explanation began.

* * *

"Where's Shantotto? We really need her here." Laguna stood in a rocky canyon, it was the area directly between Order's Sanctuary and the Edge of Madness. Why they had not gone straight to Chaos at the beginning of the war somewhat confused him, this canyon was rarely visited by anyone from both sides, yet it also offered the most basic connection between the bases of the two gods.

"Oh, you know what a goddess must be like." Jecht stretched his free arm back to rub the back of his neck, "She's probably making some fancy speech that can be summed up in one sentence."

"I wouldn't go that far… but after hearing her, I do think I might prefer being in a bar." Laguna and Jecht immediately turned around to see Shantotto walking up to them.

"How did you get that close without me noticing you?"

"Warp." Shantotto gave another one of her smug smiles as she passed by Jecht, "And it wasn't Cosmos' talking that took up the majority of my time, I just happened to get attacked by some dork."

"Ah…" Laguna paused as he realized Shantotto had taken on a Chaos Warrior by herself, "So, what did Cosmos have to say?"

"All she really said was that attacking Chaos was futile as long as his Warriors still lived." Shantotto slightly lifter her arms up to place them against her sides, "So we just have to first make sure that-"

Her instructions were cut off by a sudden shrill laugh. Coming from the direction that the Edge of Madness lay, in a moment Kefka fizzed into view in front of all of them.

"What's this? You're going to try and attack Chaos? And here I thought there was a bottom limit to your stupidity." Kefka's painted grin supplemented his authentic one, "Ah well, makes my day more fun. Why, I haven't seen so much stupidity since the Returners."

"Kefka, get out of our way." Jecht took two steps forward and pointed his sword at the clown.

"What? Oh, some meathead thinks he can order me around…" Kefka's grin grew wider as the end of the sword was only a few inches from his face, "Cosmos hired some real jokers to help her with this cycle."

"Cycle?" Laguna titled his head in mild curiosity.

"Oh, that's right. Of course Cosmos wouldn't tell you." Kefka's voice took on a much higher pitch, "It just so happens that Emps filled me in on a few things before he left…"

Kefka made a laugh that mitched his suddenly more high-pitched voice, "Why, it would break the hearts of little guys like you if you knew the truth." Kefka paused for a moment, then summoned several large blue energy balls, blasts of Ultima, to hover behind him.

"Oh, I'm ever such a nice guy, I'll kill you before you get crushed by the truth!" Kefka's body seemed to get picked up by the air as he positioned his body in his usual battle stance, "Three voices crying in terror, what beautiful music that will be!"

* * *

"You… you…" Gabranth could not deny the overwhelming grief and angst he was feeling.

"Oh, it's not me, Gabranth. It's Chaos and Cosmos, they're the ones who have done this. I'm as much a slave as you are."

"Yet you still see value in this conquest… why?"

"Because the Emperor and I shall…" Ultimecia had a hopeful, perhaps power-hungry look in her eyes for a moment, but she shook her head to dissuade herself from her thoughts.

"Oh, never mind, even if you're about to die, there's only so much I really should tell you." Ultimecia waved her hands, "If you're going to die, you might as well look your best, little locust."

A moment after her hand waved, Gabranth suddenly felt his helm on his head again, he reached his left arm, his free arm as his right hand was clutching his weapon, and felt across the armor-piece. All the familiar grooves and ridges were present, he might of asked her what she was doing, but when he returned his attention to her, he only saw her wave her hand again, this time a large purple construction, looking more like an axe then her usual spikes, materialized in the air and spun right at him. The axe collided with Gabranth's chest, sending a pain through his body as he was thrust back, back, over the edge of the Edge of Madness.

Gabranth tumbled over the edge, heading straight for the lava, Ultimecia smirked as her axe disappeared in a puff of purple smoke, but her smirk vanished when she turned around to see Garland standing there.

"I do not approve, telling him of the truth like that." Garland's eyes shifted in the direction Gabranth had flown, "If he had somehow survived, he could have stirred up much trouble for us."

"Oh? And I should worry myself with the concerns of a slave to time?" Ultimecia's smile returned as she openly mocked Garland, but her smirk disappeared when Garland flowed forward and closed his armored hand around her neck.

"It is a grand mistake to say such things to me. You would not enjoy being placed under Kefka in our chain." Garland let the threat linger in the air for a moment, not loosening his grip on Ultimecia's neck.

"The Cosmos Warriors race to confront Chaos, we shall stop them and bring this cycle to an end." Garland released Ultimecia, letting her fall on her hands and knees upon the ground, "Kefka is already there, you and I shall reinforce him."

Garland turned his back to the Sorceress, stating one final fact, "Go first, I must attend to one final matter before we leave."

Garland walked off, leaving Ultimecia by herself, her physical mass began to fluctuate and her body began to dissipate. Before she truly began to vanish, however, she turned to look back in the direction Gabranth had flown, it occurred to her that she had not heard the satisfying sound of immolation, but she pushed the thought from her mind as she vanished, heading to battle.

Down the sides of the Edge of Madness was nothing but sheering volcanic rock, the kind that could discomfort a man with their residual heat alone. Yet, alongside one jagged rock, there was a hand gripping it tightly, connected to a man in full armor.

Gabranth wasn't sure why he had bothered to grab it and preserve his life, he felt an uncontainable hollowness in him, but he also felt one single desire… to strike at the ones who had used him and tossed him aside.

With a grunt, Gabranth pulled himself up with his single arm, his other arm still holding his weapon, he acknowledged that no one may even be there when he managed to reach the top, but the logical part of his mind could not persuade him against this course of action. He had lived too long with hatred as his substance, in moments like this, the rationality left him.

That was his plan, to strike at Chaos, or one of his warriors, with his final breath.

* * *

**Please review.**


	31. Fated Encounter

**Even more 012 updates.**

**It will be possible to get over 9,999 HP, no word on weather Brave can go over that number.**

**The plot of the game will focus on the new characters, and explain why they weren't in the first game.**

**The number of warriors between Cosmos and Chaos might not be equal.**

**There is going to be twice as much music in the game this time. I'd rather enjoy fighting to the tune of "J-E-N-O-V-A" or "Maybe I'm A Lion". Though I'm probably the only one who thinks that fighting to "Eyes On Me" from VIII or "Answers" from XIV and other tunes like that would be kickass.**

**...**

**Okay then, here's your fic. I have got to stop making the Author Notes look like a news reel for 012.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Sephiroth made the first move, breaking from his stance and dashing toward Mateus at full speed, yet the Emperor responded by slamming the base of his scepter on the ground, summoning a circular blue symbol. Instinctively, Sephiroth withheld his charge and flipped backwards, he moved back toward one of the walls and landed his feet on the vertical matter before rebounding back at the Emperor.

Mateus was prepared for such a reaction, and released his hold on his weapon, his scepter began to move by itself, the tip of it glowed a faint blue as it summoned another blue symbol, this one in the air. The symbol was rendered on a two dimensional plane and moved forward through the air, once it reached a fairly close proximity to Sephiroth, bolts of blue energy shot out from it.

Sephiroth easily slashed through all the attacks with one swing of the Masamune and continued his movement toward Mateus. A feeling of mild aggravation was felt in the Emperor's head as he leapt in the air as Sephiroth attacked the empty space he had been standing at a mere second before. As Sephiroth landed he immediately leapt after Mateus without any slowdown, Mateus made a small swing of his staff, releasing two magical mines in the air, deterring Sephiroth's charge as the swordsman had to spin to the side and break off the chase, falling back to the ground.

The Emperor hovered in the air, across the room on the floor Sephiroth stood, both combatants taking a moment to consider their next move, both quickly realized that their opponent was different then anything they had yet encountered in this cycle.

Mateus concluded that it was in his best interest to put Sephiroth down like an animal now, he twisted his body and began to charge energy through his scepter, a glowing orb appeared at the front of it, charging, growing to a bigger size as Sephiroth made his move. Sephiroth dashed up in the air, intent on stopping the Emperor's attack before he could see it through to it's end, but he wasn't fast enough.

Just before Sephiroth reached the Emperor, the orb fired, it caught Sephiroth on his gut, it burned and sheered right through him, but made no apparent physical wounds. Sephiroth paused for a moment in the air, contemplating what Mateus had sought to achieve with the attack, then he looked back up to see Mateus unleash a Flare orb from his free hand.

Under normal circumstances, the orb would have been moving so slowly that dodging it would be a triviality, but it was too close, and the orb ignited on Sephiroth before he could move out of the way. Sephiroth was flung back, slamming into a wall, leaving a clear crack upon it, but before gravity could even begin, Sephiroth had already jumped back toward the Emperor.

An aerial duel had commenced, and the Emperor played a good game of keep away. The Emperor fired another Flare, but Sephiroth easily spun away from this one's range, twisting around it, he resumed his attack on the Emperor, but Mateus motioned with his scepter and released a series of magic mines in the air. Sephiroth flipped above these and swung the Masamune down hard, Mateus quickly summoned a shield around him, the Masamune strained against the Emperor's defense, but ultimately failed to break it.

Even so, the force of the attack flung Mateus to the ground at maximum velocity, but just before he struck he stretched his arms out and he suddenly stopped without the slightest whiplash. He had no moment to rest, however, as his eyes saw the sight that he had predicted, Sephiroth coming down, the Masamune in a position where it would easily spear through Mateus' head, without a moment of hesitation, Mateus flipped himself backward, narrowly dodging the Masamune. Yet, as Mateus was getting the ground back under his soles, Sephiroth swung his sword again, this time catching Mateus' left side, inciting the first true pain the Emperor had yet felt in this cycle.

Mateus was not flung back from the blow, but this only allowed Sephiroth to attempt to continue his attack. Another slash followed, but it failed to strike the Emperor itself, but it did manage to slice off the left horn of his distinctive crown, Mateus twisted back after this, understanding the need for distance between himself and Sephiroth.

Distance this room could not grant him.

Mateus scowled as Sephiroth came at him again, as the swordsman attempted a running slash, Mateus attempted to buy a few brief seconds by bluntly swinging his scepter. The Masamune was caught by the scepter, and miraculously, the sword failed to cut through it, and instead a blast of magic was triggered beneath Sephiroth's feet, knocking him back from the Emperor.

The Emperor took a step back and slammed the base of his scepter into the ground as Sephiroth flipped through the air and landed on his feet, Sephiroth looked up to see spikes made of unkown substance ripping through the ground around him, as they continued to scale even higher dark orbs of energy formed a their base. The orbs were connected with traces of electricity, and they descended from the tips of the spikes and floated down to Sephiroth, he might of tried to jump clear, but the cluster of orbs blocked out the sky route, and he was given no way to flee from the attack.

The explosion that triggered when the orbs converged on Sephiroth obliterated the still growing spikes. Mateus smirked as the dust and smoke built up, but that smirk vanished as Sephiroth, with only a few battering and bruises on him, charged out of the smoke. Before Mateus could react, Sephiroth had reached him and swiped the Masamune across the Emperor's chest, with another course of real pain through his body, he thrust his free arm forward. A gust of wind was born from his palm, it surged forward and caught Sephiroth, sending him flying back into the dust, with an aggravated grunt, Mateus turned around and began to head to a door leading out of the room.

With a swing of his hand, the Emperor commanded the door to open, even as he commanded the magic around him to cauterize and sanitize the wound on his chest.

Moving through the doorway, the Emperor found himself in a room filled with test pods, on the inside were tormented innocent, not that he had the slightest ting of sympathy for them.

He began to march past them, slightly able to see the creature's through the single glass window on the front of each pod, but he stopped as he heard footsteps coming from behind him.

"You're strength is annoying." Mateus began to turn around, "Is this the strength of the SOLDIER commander?"

Sephiroth came to a stop, directing his attention to the pods for a moment before he looked at Mateus again.

"My strength is beyond the comprehension of a child of the world of suffering."

Mateus smirked at Sephiroth's disdain for him, raising his scepter up in the air once again. "You're anger is amusing, becoming of a lowly insect like you."

"No matter how great you become, you are still an insect. Tell me you do not fancy yourself an insect that can defeat an Emperor?"

Sephiroth said nothing in response, simply restarting the battle with a forward charge, heading straight for Mateus, the Emperor flipped backwards as the Masamune sliced through the air. The Emperor hung in the air for a moment before he thrust his right arm in the air, his hand released his scepter, and it was removed only a few inches from Mateus' hand and began to slowly spin in the air.

A pattern of electrical energy appeared beneath the Emperor's feet, the energy surged, and as more and more energy was drawn in, the pattern became more and more complete.

Understanding full well that it was not in his best interest to let Mateus continue with whatever he was doing, Sephiroth leapt in the air after him, raising above the Emperor, Sephiroth came down on him, but Mateus' spinning scepter suddenly stopped, the tip of it pointing toward Sephiroth, and a blast of energy was shot out.

Sephiroth stopped his aerial charge and allowed himself to hang in the air as the energy ball came at him, as it approached he raised the Masamune above his head, when the orb was within reach of his sword he brought the Masamune down. As he made a full 360 flip in the air the orb was sliced in half, both halves flying harmlessly to the side as Sephiroth returned his attention to the Emperor.

The orb had fulfilled its purpose however, properly delaying Sephiroth. Before he could return to his offense, he felt a strange force on his left shoulder, he turned his gaze to see a piece of red rock bounce of his shoulder-plate. In confusion, Sephiroth looked up in the air to determine where the attack had come from…

A giant space rock was coming down right on him, he returned to stare at the Emperor again to see that he no longer had the electrical pattern under him, it occurred to him instantly that Mateus had summoned it.

He had made a critical error of looking back at the Emperor, when he attempted to return his attention to the Emperor's Starfall, he had found it to have came down much faster then he had originally anticipated. Sephiroth was caught against the side of the meteor, upon its burning surface he was being dragged to the ground.

Placing his hands firmly against the flaming rock, Sephiroth began to push himself away from it, attempting to move to the side before he struck the ground, but the ground was fast approaching. He rolled onto his back, moving slightly to the left, and clutched the Masamune in his left hand, even as the flames burned on his back, a plan began to form in his mind.

Taking the Masamune, with considerable strain he managed to pull himself up to a standing position on the underside of the star and jumped straight up, or rather straight down, to the ground. He landed on the ground and then immediately jumped back into the air, the Masamune pointing directly up at the star, when he reached it Sephiroth stabbed the blade into the meteor, plunging so deeply that even the hilt, with his hands still wrapped around it, had disappeared inside it.

The star paused in the air for a moment, leaving the only movement in the flames all over it, then after a moment a change of energy occurred in the star. Realizing and recognizing the change, Sephiroth withdrew his sword and willingly fell back to the ground as the star exploded, bits of molten rock shot out and managed to outpace him and reach the ground first, the burning rocks that didn't strike him first, that is.

Mateus hovered above the scene, smoke and ash clouding his vision, but this was a minor annoyance for him, he could sense Sephiroth's spirit underneath the debris, though he could not determine the exact state he was in.

Sephiroth dusted off his sword arm after he regained his orientation and looked up at the smoke above him. With a minor "tch" sound, he jumped straight up in the air, sailing into the smoke, he passed through the ash, coming out of the opposite side, leaving him close to Mateus, who had only half-expected this.

Reflexively, the Emperor motioned with his staff and conjured another one of his symbols in the air, Sephiroth made no attempt to maneuver around it and headed straight into it.

That was a mistake.

Sephiroth's Masamune failed to penetrate the symbol, and his effort was rewarded only with a string of magical blasts flying out of the insignia. Sephiroth could do nothing as he was struck multiple times by the attack, but as he was flung back he managed to flip himself, regaining control. He flew back at Mateus, this time twisting to the left before attacking, Mateus attempted to counter by summoning a mine, but Sephiroth stopped the summoning by striking the scepter with the Masamune.

Sephiroth did not quite dislodge the scepter, but he did rattle the Emperor's grip on the weapon, yet the Emperor just returned to his attempt to create a mine as Sephiroth twisted behind him.

The blue mine appeared, Mateus planned to flip over it and watch Sephiroth dash into it, but when he turned around, he instead had to immediately dodge to the left to avoid a thrust from the Masamune. He could have simply retaliated at this point, but Sephiroth unintentionally struck the mine, and it ruptured.

It was thus, unfortunate, that they were both right by the epicenter of the resulting explosion. The force of the explosion even caught its own creator, Mateus, slightly off-guard, and they were both hurtled backwards, straight into the wall of the room.

As they struck, they managed to break straight through the wall, something that might have been aided by Starfall rattling the room with its explosion.

As they tumbled through the debris, they came to the ground on an arc, and yet both managed to land on their feet, though both were clearly starting to feel the effects of the prolonged battle.

Mateus took a risk and diverted his attention away from Sephiroth for a moment to examine the room he was in. This was none other then the Nibelheim Core, he did not think the battle would spill into here, but this was an inconsequential irritant.

A mild irritation building in him, he returned his attention to Sephiroth, the SOLDIER had stood still, waiting for a more obvious opening.

"You're strength is impressive… and annoying." Mateus cast his face to the side, away from Sephiroth, a smirk, one rather subtle, formed. "Yet no matter what you do, it will all fit perfectly into my plans, even death could not deter me."

"Death?" Sephiroth's expression hardened, and then a smirk creased his face, "Death… shall begat life."

The Emperor raised an eyebrow as he tried to examine the meaning of Sephiroth's statement, but promptly disregarded it. With Sephiroth's mind warped by Mateus' research, there was no telling what made sense to the SOLDIER now.

"Sephiroth… what I am doing is a great honor… few can claim to have been personally killed by the Emperor of Palamecia… personally."

The Emperor released his scepter and allowed it to spin in the air for a few seconds, then it suddenly stopped, the tip pointing at Sephiroth. Two blasts of electricity shot out, both arcing toward Sephiroth, the SOLDIER took the chance to dash forward, straight toward the electricity, as they approached Sephiroth jumped in the air, allowing the electricity to pass under him.

As he fell back down, he made a swing with the Masamune, slicing through the electrical channels of Mateus' attack. With the attack dissipated, Sephiroth continued his attack, with mild irritation Mateus began a new attack.

Clasping his staff in his hand, Mateus lifted it into the air, suddenly a tremor was felt in the ceiling of the Core. Sephiroth paused and looked up to see debris raining down, with a grunt Sephiroth returned to his charge, though now more intent on outracing the chunks of metal coming down.

Each piece of metal came down behind him as he charged forward, but the tremor on the ceiling was moving faster then him, and the debris was starting to catch up to him. Eventually, when it became clear that the next piece of metal would undoubtedly land on him, Sephiroth suddenly jumped straight in the air, moving up and forward at the same time, outpacing the chunk, then slashing through the next one that was about to fall right in front of him.

With the debris falling in front of him now, Sephiroth could return to his charge, though now he had to jump from chunk to chunk, rather then just run straight towards Mateus.

As the distance between them became increasingly small, Mateus attempted a new tactic, he brought his left arm to the front and fired a large blue orb of energy. He had used a Flare earlier, but this one was different, as could be seen by how it moved by itself to try and block Sephiroth from the Emperor.

When the distance was finally reached, the Flare attempted to press itself upon Sephiroth, but Sephiroth simply sliced with the Masamune again, cutting the Flare spell in half. In one last effort, the Emperor raised his scepter in defense, but another swipe of the Masamune knocked the scepter out of the way, slightly dragging Mateus' body to the side as well.

Reflexively, Mateus brought his left hand forward toward Sephiroth, unleashing a massive orb of electricity. Yet Sephiroth was no longer in front of him, Mateus' eye simply caught a pair of black boots going past the upper limit of his field of vision, he tilted his head up to see Sephiroth above him, and coming straight down.

A perfect downward slice from the Masamune went across Mateus, vertically. The Emperor's eyes widened in the realization that he had just received a fatal blow, he felt the life draining from his legs, as well as from his limbs. Sephiroth landed right in front of him, examining the Emperor who had clearly lost.

"Augh… no… I will… not die…" The Emperor stumbled backwards as he coughed the words out.

Sephiroth took no interest in the man anymore, simply walking past him, heading to the ledge of the Core, a thought passed his mind.

"Every time a warrior dies by another's hands, they return with no memory of the previous conflict." Sephiroth closed his eyes, contemplating any potential deaths and victories he may have experienced before. Try as he might, he could not recall any possible cycle he could have taken prior part in.

"…What would happen if a warrior took his own life?" Sephiroth opened his eyes and looked up in the air, only the unfeeling metal of the room greeted him, and offered no answers.

"I shall determine this." Sephiroth turned around, his feet on the edge of the Core, he spread his arms out, placing his body in a position that made it look like he had been crucified. The realization of what Sephiroth was doing caught Mateus completely by surprise.

_What… makes sense to his mind… now? _Mateus slumped onto the floor, yet he kept his head raised enough to keep his eyes on the swordsman. A gasp left him as he saw Sephiroth fall backwards into the Core, he took his gaze off of the edge that Sephiroth had fallen off of, after just a moment a violent surge of energy swept through the room, and Mateus knew that Sephiroth was dead. As he tried to process all that had just happened, a smirk formed on the edge of his mouth.

While it was true that Sephiroth had strayed somewhat from his original designs, all it had really done was forced Mateus to speed his own plans along a bit. And… they were moving splendidly…

Oh yes, this minor nuisance had made things all the better for him. Mateus' grin grew just slightly wider as he felt the life leaving his body, he surrendered his soul with a final cough and slumped onto the floor of the Nibelheim Core.

Yet the Emperor's roll in this cycle wasn't over… not yet.

Even as the death washed away the tension and allowed his body to relax, even as his scepter tumbled out of his lifeless hand, a sudden movement was observed in the Emperor's body. The index finger of his right hand made a sudden movement, as it moved a patch of black flame appeared around it.

This movement was soon accompanied by more, the strange black flames passed along the Emperor's body, creating a strange… almost dance-like movement. When suddenly, the flames converged on Mateus.

The deceased body was lifted up in the air, even as the flames took on a more violent red hue, as they contained themselves within the Emperor's body. Mateus, though deceased, had his eyes suddenly shot open ad the energy of the flames began to rip him apart from the inside…

The slightest of smirks appeared on his face as the flames began to destroy his flesh, finally, he laughed, laughed as his body was becoming nothing. This wasn't part of the natural order of the cycle, this… was the result of a grand machination.

* * *

**From the moment I wrote the first chapter, I knew I'd have a big Seph vs. Emps battle. Though I thought it'd be a bit shorter.**

**On a side note, was the testing room and the core directly linked to the library in Shinra Mansion? I only barrowed the game from a friend ocne, and never got that far in it.**

**Please review.**


	32. Outlived Role

**Well, this news update will be a shocker. Okay, here goes, Kuja is a Cosmos Warrior this time around.**

**Yes, you read that correctly, Kuja's a good guy in 012. Why would they do **that**, exactly?**

**I guess Kuja being a Cosmos Warrior is to balance out the fact that Terra will likely be a Chaos Warrior this time around... I personally would have instead looked at II and used Leon before he became the dark knight, or looked at VIII and used Seifer before Ultimecia warped his mind.**

**Anyway, while I did say that 012 will have twice as much music as the first game, it will be more retro/original/unaltered this time around.**

**It's a shame that evidence is pointing at Vaan being a hero from XII in 012, I'd of choosen Ashe, personally.**

**Onto my fic.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Garland stood quietly, almost as if he was in a trance. He stood at the top of the stairs of the Edge of Madness, he turned his head toward the throne, Chaos was absent at this time. The gods took an overly passive role in the conflict, only fighting when all their warriors were dead, it was an act of pruning. Peel off the layers of weak warriors and leave the gods to test themselves against the strong. Though the point of the conflict was strengthening Chaos, not Cosmos.

As Garland reflected on this truth, he felt a small ripple of power flow through the ground he was standing on. The first sign of Shinryu's activity. The conflict's final battle must be drawing close…

The ripple died away almost instantly, but it was replaced by another sound from behind Garland. A more easily sensed sound, much more easily noticed then Shinryu's radiant power. It was the clanking of metal, and it took only a moment to realize what the sound was coming from.

"Revenge and spit… hatred… that drove you to survive, didn't it?" Garland didn't even turn around as the metal sound stopped right behind him.

"I am the Judge Magister…" The originator of the metal sound responded. Garland slowly careened his upper body to look at the warrior, Gabranth.

Gabranth began to walk again, but after about three steps he lost his balance and slumped down, with a grunt he straightened himself back up.

"…even in disgrace."

Gabranth tightened his grip on his weapon as he raised his head back up. "This is my just reward for willingly aiding those who would toss me aside like a dog."

Garland took Gabranth's words in, then laughed. "Self-pity? There is no room for that in this cycle of war."

"Garland!" Gabranth took a step forward, "Ultimecia told me everything about you, what you did in your own world!"

Pointing an accusatory finger at Garland, Gabranth's voice lowered into a growl, "You betrayed your king, you stole your princess. The things you were sworn to protect… yet you still find worth in yourself… how?"

"My life has become dedicated to the Great Will. Cornelia means nothing to me now." Garland took a step toward the Magister, tightening his grip around the hilt of his weapon, knowing full well what was about to happen.

"I know of what you've done in your world as well, your brother means nothing to you, and your life is dedicated to the Arcadian Empire. Do I seem so different from you?"

"Silence!" Gabranth recoiled a step, but he brought his fused weapon to the front. "All has been stripped of me, only hatred for those who toyed with my values and tossed me aside, remains mine!"

With that, Gabranth placed his other hand on the hilt of his weapon and separated it into two swords. He pulled the weapons apart and brought them to his side.

"Tell me, Garland, why did you forsake which you knew you must hold most previous?"

"I've done only as the Great Will has had me act." Garland pulled his sword behind him, hunching in his familiar battle posture. "That is all the reason I would need to fight."

Gabranth's entire body shook with anger, all his struggles and perseverance in this war had meant nothing, it had brought nothing. The surge of anger seemed to regenerate his fatigued muscle, and the singular target of this seething rage was Garland, the one who knew, always knew, and along with it so… willingly.

Gabranth made the first movement, his anger could not comprehend patience right now, though in his rage, he forgot who he was trying to fight.

Gabranth's first flurry came down hard, each blade intended to strike at a different part of Garland's body, but not a single blow struck. Garland's unique morphing weapon flowing into the form of an axe, the wide shape of the weapon Garland used as a shield to defend himself.

With Gabranth's attack negated, Garland took a step back and morphed his weapon back to a sword, then began his charge. He spun toward Gabranth, dragging his weapon with him in a circle, catching Gabranth on his undefended side, the Judge was tossed aside, but he wasn't thrown, simply skidding across the ground.

When Gabranth stopped, he began his next attack, fusing his weapons back together, he dashed toward the knight. With the fused weapon at the forefront, as he approached Garland raised his sword in his defense, the blades connected, and the force made both combatants take a step back. Yet, owing to the lighter weight of his weapon, Gabranth recovered first, and charged again, this time catching Garland right on his chest, Garland was forced to take another step back from the blow, but Gabranth charged with his weapon twice more, flinging Garland across the arena.

Garland flew through the air, but suddenly spun in the air, regaining control of his momentum, and landed evenly on his feet. He took his weapon in hand and swung it across his field of vision, as he did, the top of the weapon extended from the bottom half on a chain. Extending more then enough to reach Gabranth, the Judge had to withdraw from a charge and jump back as the weapon swept across and was drawn back to its base.

Then Gabranth charged again, even as Garland cast Blaze, a series of fireballs were born in front of Garland, heading straight for Gabranth, yet the Judge simply rolled forward, then flowed into a jump through the air and landed. The fireballs failed to turn sharp enough to catch Gabranth, allowing him a free shot at Garland, he charged forward, Garland only a few feet from him, he unlinked his weapon and prepared to strike.

Garland blocked the attack by raising his sword as both of Gabranth's blades attempted to strike at the knight's chest. As they strained their weapons against each other, Garland suddenly began laughing.

"What… is so… funny!" Gabranth continued to push his weapon against Garland's, yet neither warrior seemed to be budging, yet it seemed that Garland wasn't using his full force, even as he held his transforming weapon with one hand.

"You, Gabranth." Garland's hand tightened around his weapon's grip, anticipating the next move. "Defeating me would change nothing, do you believe that I have never died in one of these wars before?"

"What…?" Gabranth felt his resolve weaken, the force he was applying to Garland's weapon lighten.

"Even should you defeat me, even should you defeat Chaos, the cycle will begin again, and nothing will have changed." Garland gave in to another laugh. "Do you see now? No matter what you do… everything you inspire to do is… futile!"

As he spoke the last word, Garland relented his defense, allowing Gabranth's swords to fall down. Garland reared back and stabbed forward, yet Gabranth stepped to the side and attempted to administer a blow to Garland's armored helm, Garland raised his sword in defense again, and as Gabranth's sword bounced off his defense, Garland swatted his free hand through the air, hoping to catch Gabranth on the back of it.

Gabranth leaned his head to the left, dodging Garland's hand, he countered, hoping to do something relevant to the knight, but Garland swung his sword upward, acting as a shield as it moved up, bouncing Gabranth's sword back. Now Gabranth was off-balance as Garland held his sword above him, Garland's weapon formed into an axe and came down, hard.

Garland's attack missed, striking the ground in front of him, but only because Gabranth and jumped away before the attack had struck, they were now standing several meters away from each other.

"I swear, as Judge Magister, you will feel the pain that will make you regret allowing me part in this war!"

"I welcome it, offer me the pain that will push me to even greater strength!"

Gabranth ran forward again, this time jumping in the air as he approached Garland, both of them readied their weapons as the fight continued.

* * *

Rather then engage immediately, Ultimecia chose to instead spend the first moments observing the fight. Most notably, the one the Emperor sought to place on their side, Jecht. They appeared to be winning the fight, but it was a three on one, their favor, and she never had much expectations in Kefka's fighting potential. She seemed to ignore her earlier defeat to him…

"Running! Yes, run run, or you'll be… well-done!" Kefka laughed as Jecht, Shantotto, and Laguna fled in various directions to keep from getting hit by his Firaga spell, the way he used his spells was… unorthodox, to say the least. It made him all the more dangerous of an opponent.

His laughter was cut short as a sharp spike in pain was felt in his side, cringing initially, he looked to the left to see that Laguna had taken a moment from running to fire upon him.

Agitated, Kefka snapped his fingers and the Firaga blast that was following Laguna grew in size and speed, swiftly catching up to him. Laguna was enveloped in the fire as Kefka's laughter echoed, yet in his amusement, he forgot to keep track of Jecht and Shantotto, he turned back around just in time to see them both right in his face.

They both swerved to the side quickly, but before he could assume that they had fled because he had noticed them, he found both of the Firagas he had fired a them coming right at him. The spells couldn't turn as sharply as the two warriors could, but Kefka would emerge unscathed, as he cocooned himself under a Wall spell before the attacks came down on him.

As the explosion was triggered and dispersed, he felt another pain strike him in the back, he turned around to see Laguna getting back, inciting a deep rage in the jester.

"Oh… woe is me, I'm afraid that… I'll have to kill you all!" Kefka raised both his arms up, beginning the casting of Forsaken.

Up on the cliff, Ultimecia was about to intervene before Kefka could do something that might jeopardize Mateus' plan, when she suddenly felt a strange rush of energy flow through her. It was enough to catch her mid thought, the energy, it wasn't natural, this energy. It was just like… Mateus' energy.

It dawned on her, something had happened to Mateus. She knew he was waiting for Sephiroth to find him… there was a small chance that Sephiroth could have… reflexively, she smiled. If the Emperor was dead, then… it made things simpler for her, he was perhaps the only one who might have been able to catch on to an attempt by her to cast Time Compression. With an amused expression, she proceeded to enter the fight progressing before her.

She raised her right hand into the air, summoning a large number of purple colored spikes, with a simple point down of her finger, the spikes descended toward the combatants.

Kefka watched as large globs of white energy fall onto his enemies, exploding in a mass of black energy a sick grin going across his face as he watched the trio again take to running to avoid the attack. True elation went through his body as the blasts only narrowly missed their intended targets, it was almost more amusing then watching them actually getting blasted. Almost.

His jolly was cut short, however, as Ultimecia's purple spikes came down, across his field of vision. The sight of them caught him off-guard, and in his shock he stopped concentrating on his spell. The Forsaken stopped, and it was quickly evident that Ultimecia's attack was more easily negated and dodged then Forsaken was. Shantotto simply protected herself and her allies with a trio of Wall spells, something that would not have been possible against Forsaken's raw power.

Ultimecia jumped down right in front of Kefka, a smirk on her face.

"Run out of emperors to kiss up to, have you?" Kefka seethed at her interference, having had the clear advantage before she intervened.

She made no response to Kefka, instead directing her attention toward the three Cosmos Warriors before her.

"Oh, you think you two can fight us? We can take you both without any fuss." Shantotto's arrogance beamed through once again, it succeeded only in giving birth to another smirk on Ultimecia's face.

"It's not me I plan to have you fight." Ultimecia responded, Shantotto's arrogance waned slightly, the Tarutaru noticed a change movement of energy around the witch.

Ultimecia floated up into the air, a clear distortion in the air around her, she rose up above the head of everyone else.

"I need not fight such swarming locusts, when a servant can defeat you all simply enough…" Ultimecia wrapped her arms around her waist. "A fine servant… the ultimate Guardian Force… Griever…"

Ultimecia raised her right hand in the air, a burst of light on her palm, it grew in size for a quick moment, before she suddenly thrust it down to the ground. It lit up the ground under her for a moment, but the light condensed into a point and then vanished.

For a moment, it seemed that Ultimecia's threat had been empty, but then the light returned, a thick puddle of light on the ground with strands of light going up into the air, suddenly a creature began to emerge from the pool of energy. Something vaguely lion-shaped, but beyond this characteristic, it seemed impossible to describe the monstrosity, Griever.

"You will… suffer…" Ultimecia let loose a laugh as Griever hovered above the three Cosmos Warriors, a snarl from its mouth as it made the first move.

* * *

**Please review.**


	33. Griever

**Huh, nothing new to say about 012 for once. In that case, I'll just say this.**

**I **really** hope they fix the graphical problem with Garland's EX Mode, where his eyes appear on the small set of horns on the top of his helmet. (Albeit, only in his default costume) I'd like one of my Mains in Dissidia to be devoid of those kind of issues, even if WoL is the one I really put my weight behind.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Rage and bitter disgust. Two things normally directed only at his brother, and the memory of his brother, yet now, he found a new target for his frustrations. The Chaos Warriors.

He wasn't sure how many of them knew, but the ones who did went on with the cycle as if nothing was different to them, they had found some kind of meaning to the endless conflict. He didn't know if Chaos himself knew, though in his current state of mind, he likely wouldn't care, he was standing against the Gods themselves now, ignoring the fact that it was an absurdity to think that he could fight them single-handedly.

Defeating Garland? That was less absurd.

Yet the knight was, in essence, war incarnate, brutality manifest, he had been with this war from the very beginning up to now, long before Gabranth's role. As the fight progressed, it had quickly become evident that attempting to match Garland blow for blow was a foolish endeavor, if Garland had been fighting for so long, Gabranth's own style must not of seemed surprising at all.

As another swing of Garland's weapon frustrated his intended offense, he wished he could have been striking at Ultimecia instead. It felt strange, when you weren't his enemy, Garland was surprisingly… civil.

"Here I come!" Garland lifted off the ground, dashing through the air, ignorant of gravity's pull, closing the distance between the two warriors with impossible speed. Garland pulled a second sword directly out of his primary weapon as he reached Gabranth, right by Chaos' throne.

_I have… nothing to lose._

Gabranth fused his weapons together at their hilts once more, letting the surge of magik go through them, generating a yellow glow from the weapon, separating the weapons, he unleashed crescent shaped blue waves of energy, but Garland easily swung to the side to dodge the attack.

Unfazed, Gabranth began a barrage toward Garland with his twin blades, momentarily forgetting the knight's superior physical strength. The twin swords wielded by both men clashed, and Gabranth was forced to take several steps back as the reactions of the colliding blades pulsed through his body, but he wasn't done yet. Gabranth fused his weapons back together and made a quick 360 spin, the attack did not strike Garland, as he had expected, but it had made Garland stop, and not press his offense for a moment.

With Garland close enough, Gabranth slightly curled himself inward, creating a vacuum, with himself as the epicenter.

"My sustenance is…" Gabranth's eyes were not on Garland right now, they were closed, anyway. Yet he could hear scraping of metal, the suction was strong enough to pull Garland in… good. As the sound grew stronger and louder, he felt the knight had been drawn close enough…

"…true hatred!" Gabranth uncurled himself, opening his eyes as he arced back slightly. Something vaguely like joy was born in him as he saw Garland getting flung back, but only vaguely. Hatred was not so easily sated, but seeing someone like Garland getting injured made his frustrations seep and bleed out just slightly.

Yet Garland regained control of himself as he was flying back, and simply retaliated with another charge. He fused his swords back into one, he allowed his blades to morph and extend slightly, creating what might have been interpreted as a spear. Garland charged forward, or perhaps the movement of the weapon dragged him forward, the answer to that question was largely meaningless. What did have meaning, is the fact that Gabranth could not react in time.

The tip of Garland's weapon could pierce through many substances with ease, Gabranth's chest armor was no different. It was to the Judge's fortune that Garland's attack ended before Gabranth's skin was touched, but the attack had left a small hole in the armor.

Gabranth felt his mind do a loop at how close Garland had come to piercing a vital organ, he allowed himself to land back on the ground, feeling his grip on his weapons loosen from the shock of what nearly happened, but then they tightened again.

_Hatred… does not allow… for defeat._

Fear and shock had no place in his mind anymore. He returned his gaze to Garland, an even stronger hatred burning, fusing his weapons back together, he began another charge.

Garland tensed up in a prepared defense, letting Gabranth come closer to him, Gabranth raised his weapon upward and swung down…

"By my sword!"

The attack hit Garland on the shoulder, throwing him back, his boots skidded across the ground, he dropped his free arm down on the ground, the fingers arched in an almost feral position, using this extra grip to slow him down more quickly.

"Know this pain!"

Garland looked up just in time to see a blast of energy burst from the palms of Gabranth's hand, coming forth and striking directly upon Garland's chest, the knight was thrust back once again. Yet the blast was of weaker strength then it looked, Garland was only pushed back a few feet before he was able to manage a firm footing.

The blast suddenly ended, yet, Gabranth was no longer at the other end, Garland looked to the right just in time for Gabranth to literally punch him in the face, a exceptionally unexpected move.

"Take your last breath…"

Garland paused for a moment, then he looked up to see swords, seemingly made of energy, all around him, the blades descended upon him, piercing through him, seemingly more in a spiritual sense then a physical one. Though his armor did not strain and his skin did not tear, he could feel the pain…

"Surrender now to obliv-"

"Enough."

Before Gabranth could finish the final part of his attack, Garland suddenly dispersed the attack, the blades vanishing in a instant. Garland's body, and armor, were now coated in a strange mystical energy, the Soul of Chaos.

It wasn't only that, Garland's armor had changed, the color tint of the armor itself had changed only slightly, but… his cape was now white, and a strange power was coming from him.

Both warriors landed back on the ground, Gabranth returned to his usual battle stance, Garland, meanwhile, just stood up straight.

"I never would of thought you were capable of an attack like that." Garland nodded, offering the closest thing to respect he would grant the judge. "Yet you are still fighting a battle where victory is nothing but an illusion."

Gabranth didn't respond, simply charging again, attempting to perform the same attack, but this time, the attack did not throw Garland back, he did not even flinch as the blade struck him.

Garland adjusted his body to look directly at Gabranth. "Do you know what would happen to you, if I held nothing back?" Garland lifted his sword up in the air, and swung it into Gabranth's side with a horrible force.

"Know your limits!" Gabranth was knocked away, yet Garland did not immediately press his attack. He raised his sword above his head, drawing the energy of Discord into himself, it was fortunate for him that he was fighting at the Edge of Madness, a place already so thickly drenched in the power. The energy gathered until it became physical, tangible, emanating as an aura, right from his body.

After the energy passed a certain threshold, Garland sprung into his attack.

"Can you stand this!" Garland's first movement was simple, he separated his multi-purpose weapon into two sword again, then unleashed a series of slashes against Gabranth, the pain must have been unimaginable. A warrior would have found it tolerable under normal circumstances, but with the added spike of the Discord energy…

Garland flowed into his next movement before Gabranth could react, a final swing of the previous attack sent Gabranth through the air, Garland fused his swords back together and extended the front half of the weapon on a chain, striking past the Judge. The chain proceeded to pull the bottom half of the blade, along with Garland, up to Gabranth's position, and he applied another strike to the Magister.

Garland raised his sword again, letting it meld into axe form, and then swung down on the Magister, he could hear the tearing of the armor under the blow. Finally, returning his sword to its normal state, Garland braced himself for his last attack.

"Worthless insect." Gabranth swung once, striking across Gabranth's back, spinning a full 360 degrees, then striking a second time. Gabranth was thrown back to the floor of the Edge of Madness, landing painfully on his back, Garland, meanwhile, his armor returned to its normal colorization, landed calmly on his feet.

Gabranth groaned as he tried to get back up, but the pain of mere movement forced him back to motionlessness. With a grunt, he begun to turn himself over onto his chest, pushing against the ground with his hands, he began to lift himself up. On his knees, he turned to Garland, the knight had not moved, perhaps he was… gloating…

The pain moved through him again as he tried to assume a standing position, but all he could manage was a semi-erect hunch. With his right arm, trembling from the pain, Gabranth pointed one of his swords at Garland.

"I… will not fall… or falter… I am the Judge… Mag…"

Gabranth failed to finish his sentence, collapsing to his knees. He heard the distinctive clanking of Garland's boots again, he looked up to see the knight towering directly over him.

To defeat Garland… he just…

Didn't.

Have.

It.

"The strong will always win, Gabranth. That is fate." A laugh came from behind Garland's face plate, "Where you shall go, strength will be necessary just to exist."

Not even giving Gabranth a chance to respond, Garland raised his free arm and struck Gabranth across his face. Yet the force of the blow sent Gabranth flying through the air, slamming his chest on the arm rest of Chaos' throne, he fell backwards, back on the ground, but Garland was already by him again.

"You should have simply allowed Ultimecia's attack to have killed you. It would have spared you this."

Gabranth attempted to stand up, getting back to his feet surprisingly quickly, but any attempt to attack was intercepted by a punch to the side of Gabranth's helm. Gabranth was sent flying again, across the Edge of Madness, on the tip of the stairs, in his weakness, and the new found feeling of hopelessness, he dropped the two swords he had been holding on to. They both tumbled out of his hands onto the stairs, they seemed to move in slow motion as they fell, going down step by step, until finally bouncing off the stairs and off to the side, falling down the steep cliffs, into the lava beneath.

The Judge attempted to return to his feet once more, unsure as to why he would bother, then something else appeared in his vision, bits of dark energy, seeping off of him. His role in the conflict was now truly over.

"Your part is ended, Gabranth. Yet if you find this battle to be futile, you will know true despair in the place you shall go."

With a final movement, Garland took his sword and thrust it upward, catching Gabranth on his chest, flinging him in the air, tossing him over the cliff top of the Edge of Madness.

Garland took a few steps forward to determine weather or not Gabranth had been properly dealt with, not wanting Gabranth to unexpectedly return once more, even if he was already fading. He looked down to see Gabranth plunge in the lava surrounding the base of the throne, that was proof enough.

"That is resolved. It is time I focus my duties elsewhere." Garland turned to the steps leading down, "This cycle shall be brought to its conclusion. Now."

* * *

"Oh… now _that_ is an Esper." Kefka trembled with glee as he looked at Griever, mentally picturing the power its magicite would offer.

"It's not an Esper, it's called a Guardian Force." Ultimecia turned back toward Kefka, "It is not bound to your world, it would not produce any magicite upon death."

Kefka felt his enthusiasm dwindle, but as he looked upon Griever, he contemplated the slower path of simply draining its energy. Provided he could steal it from Ultimecia.

"Just sit back and enjoy the show, Kefka." Ultimecia returned her eyes to the front, clearly having no intention on interfering with Griever's battle with the three Warriors. Kefka eyed the battle about to begin, intrigued by what Griever might accomplish.

Griever snarled as Jecht tried to make the first move. Jecht came up into the air and tried to slash across Griever's face, the attack was counted with a swing of Griever's arm, Jecht was forced to dodge the blade coming out of the arm, and was forced to abandon the attack.

Griever's attention was on Jecht, when a sudden spray of bullets struck the side of its face. It briefly turned toward Laguna, but dissuaded itself, the bullets having done nothing, instead it directed itself toward Shantotto, the Tarutaru was already casting spell. Griever moved to intercept the attack, reeling back, preparing the Flare spell, its own incarnation of the attack was very different from Shantotto's, it slightly threw its body forward as Shantotto got closer to finisher her own spell.

Shantotto was just about to finish casting Freeze when strands of light began to come from inside her. She desisted her casting to examine the beams that seemed to emit from her chest and back, turning around a few times, erratically examining herself, it took a moment for the Black Mage to realize that Griever had summoned the epicenter of an explosion inside her own body.

Against this, she was unsure how to react, she didn't precisely understand how to summon a Wall spell in a way to lessen the damage, but it was too late for such contemplations. The Flare erupted inside her body, the Tarutaru disappeared inside the flame, Griever snarled at the sight of the ball of flame dispersing. There upon the land was Shantotto, kneeling down from the attack.

Griever might have followed up with another attack, but Jecht suddenly attacked, while preoccupied with Shantotto, Jecht appeared above him. Realizing his presence, Griever looked up, only to see Jecht's sword coming down, wounding Griever across its chest.

A short howl of pain followed, at which point Jecht attempted another attack, only to be swatted out of the air by a swing of Griever's arms. With Jecht out of the way, Griever turned its attention to Laguna, without a moment spent waiting, Griever began to cast Meltdown. A thick orange beam was shot straight toward Laguna, who rolled to the side, another spray of bullets flying at Griever all the while, yet they succeeded at little beyond irritating Griever's nostrils.

Griever was about to follow up on the attack, when it felt a sharp tinge of pain go through its body, electricity, Burst, from Shantotto set its veins alight with pain. Turning back to Shantotto, it began an attack a little different this time, strands of blue light appeared around the Tarutaru, they swarmed upon her, giving her no time to react. Yet, they did not harm her, but she could feel her energy seeping out, after a moment the blue light centered into blue orbs and shot away from her, leaving her confused as to what had just happened.

Though she did not know it, Griever deprived her of her ability to cast Freeze.

With this done, Griever began to perform a Draw, targeting Shantotto once more, in the form of blue orbs from her body, Griever sucked Shantotto's Flare spell out of her. Immediately, he turned the spell upon Laguna, unleashing a vicious blast of fire toward the Warrior, forcing him into a retreat.

The attack failed to connect, and Griever disregarded Laguna, turning its eyes back to Shantotto, it then occurred in its feral mind that Jecht was no where to be seen.

"You're just outta luck!" Jecht, slightly above and directly behind Griever, began strengthening his arm for his next assault. Griever turned around for Jecht to unleash his attack, a brutal series of sword slashes across Griever's chest, forcing Griever back from its position.

The last blow knocked Griever far away, only for chuncks of the earthen ground to rise up and strike Griever, courtesy of Shantotto's Stone spell.

"I think I'm getting the hang of fighting this one, it should take only a few more moments to get the job done." Shantotto almost laughed as Laguna chucked a grenade overhead, bouncing off of the ground and straight up to in front of Griever's face before detonating.

"So nice you can realistically apply yourself here." Jecht snorted as Laguna came up on the other three. "I think we're getting close to done here."

"Not quite." Ultimecia reappeared in the air, right beside Griever. "You have seen nothing of true strength…" Ultimecia turned to look at Griever, "The Guardian Force's true power… allow me… to show you…"

Ultimecia floated higher in the air, freely moving above Griever, before calling out an order.

"Griever! Make them bleed!"

The world seemed to freeze for a moment as the three Cosmos Warriors paused, their eyes squarely on Griever. Several seconds passed, and the ground they were on began to rumble, Griever pulled his arms across his chest, transmitting energy to the world around them. Before any reaction could be made by them, the three Cosmos Warriors were encased in three separate orbs of energy and were pulled up into the air, beyond both Griever and Ultimecia. Pulled so high, the three orbs moved through a nexus above them.

In a strange plain of existence, the orbs dispersed their prison, leaving the Warriors hanging In the air, just in time for another orb to appear in front of them. Encasing them was not this orbs intention, instead, it grew larger and larger, strands of light emanating off of it, until finally rupturing, flinging magical energy at the three. More magical energy then the three had ever dealt with, even Shantotto.

As the blast blinded them, they could feel the pain coursing through them, but above all, they could feel solid ground beneath them again. Jecht was the first to open his eyes, they were back on the rocks they were standing on when they fought Griever, and the creature was hovering in front of them again. The last attack may as well as not happened, when suddenly Griever began to convulse.

The energy of its body breaking it apart from within, explosions ravaged the Guardian Force's body.

"It looked like that last attack used up all of its power, not it'll be as threatening as a flower." Shantotto felt her smugness returning as Griever's body folded in upon itself, the energy whipping around it, forcing Griever's body into the shape of a perfectly rounded ball.

Griever's distinctive chest design was present on the design of the ball, but then it vanished, becoming perfectly black.

"…and I assume you think you've won this?" Ultimecia appeared above the orb, "But Griever's power is just beginning, allow me to show you."

Ultimecia spread her arms out to the sides, the color of her body disappeared, her entire frame becoming a glowing white light.

"I shall junction myself… unto Griever!" The light that formed Ultimecia's body shrank, concentrating into a single white ball, barely a tenth of the size of the orb Griever had become, and it began to sink down to what was left of Griever. Griever's orb seemed to call Ultimecia to itself, dragged it down with black electricity coming from its outer rim, pulling the orb into its mass.

"Behold, the true power… of Junction!"

The Griever ball shuddered suddenly, something… was happening.

* * *

**...Numbers are really thinning, huh?**


	34. Return

**Not much to say about 012 this time. I picked up some new info on Tifa, but it's pretty basic, I think we all predicted that her EX Mode would be called "Equipped Premium Heart" and that her alt outfit would be her Advent Children attire. Going with the tradition of most of the VI and beyond heroes, her EX Burst will be her Limit Break from VII, and the last blow will obviously be Final Heaven.**

**I learned something more relevent, though. Evidentially the number of new stages, and the number of new characters, will be equal to each other.**

**You know, I wonder if Tifa's presence might exclude Prishe from XI... then again, SE might not be quite so "variety is key" as I am. I can forgive an overdose of people of the "Warrior" class, because half of the main heroes are of that class, more or less.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

The orb shuddered for a moment, then it took on a proper coloring again. Only, the colors were off from the design of Griever, the orb began to… unfurl. It uncurled itself, forming into a new abomination, it bore a direct resemblance to Griever, though distinctly different in the shape of its body, but more noticeable was the image of a woman, Ultimecia, fused onto the beast's chest.

The new creature made no attempt to speak, instead, it attacked immediately. It's body shuddered for a moment, but it made no particular movement, until Shantotto noticed a wave of energy coming at them from under their feet.

"Move to the side if you don't want to say bye! Otherwise, you might die!"

The two other warriors listened immediately, and they had all moved away from the front of the creature as the ground erupted in a geyser of flames. As the flames soared higher, a distortion in the air occurred to the right of the creature, a crystal of disconcerting shape appeared in the air and hovered. It seemed to serve no practical purpose as the creature continued its attack.

It began to cast Holy, Ultimecia, fused to the creature's chest, felt her energy's been drawn by the creature, feeding it the power it needed. The creature spawned a large collection of white orbs in the air above the three Cosmos Warriors, though they weren't about to sit and wait for the attack to come.

A sudden blast of Flare from Shantotto onto Ultimecia delayed the full casting of Holy, though it did not negate the spell. Rather, the attack was negated by a barrage from Laguna striking Ultimecia, temporarily severing the magical energy linking her to Griever. The orbs of Holy faded as the connection between Ultimecia and Griever began to reawaken, but before it could try to recast its attack, Jecht was on it.

Though not much of a strategist, Jecht could at least understand that tearing Ultimecia out of the creature would severely hamper its power. Jecht jumped up in the air, his sword firmly in hand, hoping to cleave Ultimecia right out of the creature, but his attack was intercepted, struck out of the air by a swipe of the creature's left claw.

As Jecht tumbled through the air and landed back on his feet, the air to the left of the creature distorted, a second crystal appearing, yet it was ignored by the Cosmos Warriors, unless the creature used them for something, they would look at it as beneath their concern.

Jecht began his next attack, leaping up in the air again, rising too quickly for a claw swipe to catch him this time. He came down on the creature's head, striking directly across the creature's face, generating a low howl from the abomination, Jecht attempted to begin another attack, but the creature suddenly made a feral snap at him. The bite fell short of Jecht, but the suddenness of the attack threw him off-balance, he began to fall back down, but, regaining his orientation on the way down, he made another slice, cutting into the skin to Ultimecia's left. This failed to make any true impact, the creature's body seemingly more akin to armor in that area, but it did unnerve Ultimecia, seeing as the attack had come so close to her head.

With a distinctive growl, the creature moved to another attack, energy glowed from the two crystals around it as it raised its arms, from the fingertips it fired strands of light to the surrounding canyon walls. The ends of the strands jammed into the rocks firmly, then after a moment, they began to pull, huge canyon walls were ripped out as the strands pulled from back toward the creature, but the creature wasn't their destination.

The three warriors realized that they were the target, but by the time this had been realized the chunks of rock were far too close to them, all Shantotto could do was erect a Protect spell and hope…

The walls collapsed on the three warriors and settled down, crumbling as they lost the force that had been moving them. The creature, the fusion of Ultimecia and Griever, was content to watch this for just a moment, with a wave of its hand, the rocks dispersed, revealing the three injured warriors.

"Insolent fools." Ultimecia shook her head from her position on the creature's chest, "You would stand in the way of she who will become the eternal being?"

The creature advanced forward for a moment as Ultimecia continued, "What did you think you could accomplish, speeding this war to its conclusion? Fighting against reality… perhaps you should have realized just how harsh reality is…" she began to smile as Jecht began to stand back up before his two companions. "At the conclusion of this war, I shall cast the ultimate spell, Time Compression, and your existence shall be… denied."

_Delusions of grandeur do not become you, Ultimecia._

Ultimecia paused, and the creature followed suit, she heard a distinctive cracking sound, she turned her gaze to the ground to see a large crack going across the ground. Yet something seemed incorrect about the movement of the ground, she had not caused it, and she'd have sensed if Shantotto or Kefka had attempted to manipulate the crust in some manner.

The ground split open, and a wave of energy was unleashed, a sudden beam of energy shot up out of the ground, it flew straight toward the back of the Griever-Ultimecia abomination, slicing through the back half of it. Ultimecia and the creature felt the pain come through them as the back half of the creature fell off, though it continued to hover in the air.

Flames burst out of the crevice in the ground, only barely stretching above the top of the long hole, but something else began to emerge. A being of some sort.

This being began to slowly emerge from the flames, a demonic visage appearing from the flames.

_Though I find the idea of you as a ruler deliciously absurd, the worlds can have only one ruler._

"Wait… that… voice…" Ultimecia backed away from the person that came from the flames, though the face was now different, there was no denying who it was.

"How… could you…?"

"I have absorbed much power in that hell, now you will know my absolute reign." The figure emerged entirely from the flames, holding a familiar scepter in its right hand.

"No, impossible!" Ultimecia sounded uneven, disoriented, "You faded, I felt it!"

"I am the only true ruler of all worlds, death alone can not stop me." The figure pointed the pointer figure of its left hand at Ultimecia, instantly a black beam shot out, reaching at maximum speed, it pierced right through Ultimecia's chest, and all the way back to the end of the creature.

"Do not think me oblivious to what you were trying to do, Ultimecia. I am the ruler, you are not." The beam stopped emitting from the being's finger, and he clenched his fist, immediately the fusion of Ultimecia and Griever began to explode and rupture from within.

"You… ah… Em…per…or…" the fusion disappeared in a large explosion, flinging dust and debris in all directions, the figure snapped its fingers, and a whirlwind sucked the smoke away. Ultimecia kneeled over on the ground, back to her normal form, yet weakened.

"Next time, Ultimecia, you will understand the one who is truly in charge."

No… n-no… I…" Ultimecia struggled to force herself up from her knees, unable to do so, "Mateus, you… how did you survive?"

"Survive?" The figure's face was inhuman, but Ultimecia could somehow tell that it was smiling. "Ah, you presume much."

A flash of light appeared around the figure, Mateus, and once again, the Emperor stood, "I did die, Sephiroth pierced me fatally. Yet I had desired that, I knew… I knew what I could acquire in hell."

The Emperor smirked his familiar smirk, and he was enveloped in black energy, transforming him back into the Emperor of Hell. "Sephiroth is gone, Exdeath is gone, and I felt Gabranth's passing at Garland's hand." The Emperor chuckled, "The war is about to end, but not like this, there is one more thing to settle."

Mateus turned his gaze to Jecht, "I need one of brutality, to let the hatred flow through him, though I cannot guarantee he will be a Chaos Warrior, it will only be a matter of time before the opportune selection of warriors arrive."

"Man, what the hell are you talking about?" Jecht tilted his neck to the side, rubbing his free arm against it, "As far as I see, you're one of Chaos' kids, so I'll deal with you simply enough."

Jecht sprung into action, heading straight for the Emperor, running right past the injured Ultimecia, yet as he tried to strike Mateus, he instead found himself stopped by a invisible magic wall in front of him. He strained against the force that was keeping him merely a few feet from the Emperor, then the wall surged in power, knocked Jecht back to the position his comrades were at.

"Lowly worm." Mateus dismissed Jecht's power as he began to approach the three warriors. As he walked by Ultimecia, he shot a small surge of electricity from his left hand into the back of her head, she fell to the ground with a distinctive thunk.

"Kefka." Mateus did not turn back, "Leave, head for Cosmos, its time for this war to come to its end."

Mateus heard the sound of a Warp spell, he felt slightly surprised that Kefka had followed his order without as much of a comment, then he reminded himself that Kefka would likely not waste an opportunity to fight someone like Cosmos.

"Now then…" Mateus raised his scepter in the air, "Let's see what emotions you'll feel when your allies die. One of you shall be used appropriately…"

* * *

**Obviously Great Attracter had to be toned down somewhat, compared to how it worked in VIII, pulling four planets down and all.**

**Now really, did anyone actually think getting killed by Sephiroth had put an end to Mateus' involvement in the story?**

**Please review.**


	35. A New Army

**Nothing new on the 012 front, just two english screenshots.**

**So, with nothing else to say, I'll come out and say the following: Seifer and Vivi, that's my first and last character request for 012.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

"You were a mere annoyance before, what hope could you have against me now?" Mateus chuckled as Jecht was the first to charge at him, but his attack was stopped by a Burst spell landing right in front of him.

Jecht stopped and backed away, turning around and shooting a confused look at Shantotto.

"As delicious as it would be to see you accuse her of treachery, it was not that minuscule gnat who cast Burst." Mateus chuckled through his demonic visage, "Or rather, it was her, but not the same one you call an ally."

Mateus stood there for a moment, his inhuman face hiding his smile, "Ah, you are obviously confused, allow me to show you the army I found sealed away in hell."

The Emperor took a step to the left, allowing four figures to appear from behind him. To the surprise of the Cosmos Warriors, especially Shantotto, there was a Tarutaru mage by the Emperor, but it's apperance was almost completely identical to Shantotto. Almost.

Her… its skin, was made of crystal, the clothes matched Shantotto's, but they were a mere pattern of the crystal.

The other three crystal warriors had the apperance of Richard, Adel, and Sephiroth, similarly with the unnatural crystal appearance.

"Allow me to introduce the Lady of Antiquity, the Imaginary Champion, the Imitation Dragon, and the Transient Ruler." Mateus turned his gaze back to the Cosmos Warriors, "This is only the beginning of my army, I have thousands waiting for next time."

"Next time? We're beating you today!" Laguna pointed his gun forward and unleashed a series of bullets at the Emperor, but the Transient Ruler blocked it with its unstable Sorceress Power.

"Beat me?" Mateus cocked his head to the side, "And what would that accomplish, dear president?"

Laguna wasn't phased by Mateus' awareness of his position in Esthar, instead he continued to point his gun at the crystal copy of Adel. "You'd be out of the way, and we'll be able to head for Chaos and end this war once and for all."

"End? Once and for…ah ha… ha-ha-ha-ha!" Mateus surrendered to laughter, "So you have not suspected anything yet?" Mateus continued to laugh.

"So you never questioned it? You did not ask the question of "why" at any point?"

"What are you talking about? And why should we lsiten to the words of a lout?" Shantotto eyed the Emperor, but kept a healthy amount of attention to the crystal warriors that were defending him as well.

"Out of all the Cosmos Warriors, at least you should have noticed that something was wrong, my dear Windrustian." Mateus turned his attention to Shantotto briefly, "Did you never question why the need for the warriors? Why it had to be us, not them, who are fighting?"

The expression of the three Warriors didn't change at all, they were defiantly loyal to Cosmos about this war. Admirable… but in Mateus' eyes: misplaced.

"The answer is simple. Because it was what they were told to do. They are not the masters of their own fate, nor do they decide their decisions themselves." Mateus took a step forward, "They have no true authority, they are no less a pawn then we are, we're being manipulated, directed, all to reach a certain goal."

"I will admit, the goal itself I have yet to uncover, but the truth is evident of your devotion to such a useless forgery." Mateus shook his head, the three Warrior's expressions only slightly flickered, of course they wouldn't believe him on the spot… rather, it was more likely that they would deny it to the bitter end.

"Well investigated, Mateus." A voice came from behind the Cosmos Warriors, behind… and above. All present turned their gaze up to the cliff above them, there stood the Cornelian knight.

"We are all just pawns on the board. _His_ board…" Garland paused for a moment and then jumped over the cliff edge, landing evenly behind the Cosmos Warriors. "We are slaved to this cycle of conflict… so though we die again and again, still we live forever."

Mateus' impulse to laugh died away, somewhat aggravated by his own lack of understand of who the man who oversaw the board was. He was acutely aware of Shinryu, of course.

"Warriors of Cosmos… this is not the first or the only war, nor is it the first one's you have participated in." Garland made a point of gesturing toward Shantotto in particular, "Nor have you always been on the side of Cosmos, the foul mage was counted among my allies at one time."

"No, that can't be right! I fight for Cosmos' light!"

"Yeah, there's no way what you're saying is true." Jecht added, "And we don't need to know what started the war to fight you."

"That's right. You don't." Garland brought his sword forward, hunching into his battle stance, "We don't need a reason to fight, we fight for the simple pleasure in it."

Shantotto paused to determine their situation, the Emperor on one side, and she could easily see she was stronger then he had ever been before. On the other side was Garland, easily ranking among the strongest enemies she had ever encountered, and she and her allies were caught in the middle of the two warriors. There was also the Emperor's strange crystal warriors, but they were likely a triviality at best in this battle.

"What do you think our odds are?" Laguna shifted his eyes from Mateus to Garland, and then back again. "These guys are Chaos' elite."

"Who cares about our odds?" Jecht tightened his grip around his sword, "Getting backed in a corner just excites an ace."

* * *

Kefka found himself in Order's Sanctuary. The shallow water lapped peacefully at his feet, to his irritation. He might have done something to deal with the water, but he felt little interest in doing it if the water couldn't actually feel pain. Furthermore, he saw something up ahead that caught his interest.

Strands of light collected on the throne in the distance, and with a flash, there sat Cosmos.

"Kefka." Her voice did not reveal anything about what she was feeling, merely acknowledging the Chaos Warrior that had approached her. "You wish to end this war?"

"Oh, like I really care." Kefka raised himself up in the air, "But… you have something I would want."

"Something you would want?"

Kefka felt his power surge through him, "I took my power from three oh so helpful little divinities, I'd like to see what you would offer me."

Concentrating his power on his arm, he cast Trine, generating three triangle fonts of power, converging on the goddess. As they met each other, an explosion was triggered, hiding Cosmos behind the flames.

"What a fantastic barbecue!" Kefka laughed as the flames died away and were replaced by smoke. His laughter ended as the smoke was dispersed by a flash of light. There stood Cosmos, skin uncooked, and her clothes without the slightest hint of a burn.

"I don't fight often, but be aware that I am Chaos' equal." Cosmos closed her eyes and bowed her head, then drifting up into the air, "I won't let you entertain your wicked pleasures with me."

"Oh… miss defiant goddess…" Kefka shook his head as his grin came back, "Perhaps you aren't quite aware of my… magnificent power!"

"The end draws near… and only meaningless awaits us." Kefka's grin grew wider as he raised himself higher into the air, becoming level with Cosmos, "We might as well enjoy this lot."

Kefka made his move, firing a blast of erratic Firaga, it circled Cosmos in an eccentric fashion, then converged on her. Yet before it could strike her, Cosmos pointed her right arm forward, unleashing a ray of light, the ray shot forward and struck Kefka right in his gut. The Firaga dispersed without Kefka actively controlling it, Kefka was flung back, spinning uncontrollably through the air.

After a few moment, he regained control of himself and came to a halt. Continuing to levitate in the air, he pointed his right hand forward, summoning a large chunk of ice in front of him, it broke into tiny shrapnel, and the pieces flew at Cosmos. Yet for every piece that flew at the goddess, a small burst of light appeared, catching and deflecting the little pieces of ice.

Unimpressed, Kefka moved to his next attack, positioning his body, he began to cast Forsaken Null, unfortunately for him, Cosmos attacked during his casting. A beam was shot from her finger, yet off-center from Kefka, going straight past him on the left.

"Hah! Was that supposed to hit me? Maybe you should wear glasses."

Cosmos then moved her arm across her field of vision, dragged the beam with it. The beam struck right into Kefka's size, dragged him along with it as it moved, until finally the beam dispersed with a massive outward force, flinging Kefka away.

Spinning and regaining control of himself, Kefka landed back on his feet. He rubbed his arm against his injured side, then he looked back up at Cosmos.

"Let's see how a deity takes the power of another deity!" Kefka raised his right arm into the air, creating a distortion in the air around him, then he thrust his hand down. In reaction, the Light of Judgment came down on Cosmos, she disappeared under the magic explosion as Kefka let his laughter run loose.

"Ah… nothing like the smell of smoking deities in the morning!" Kefka walked up to the smoke, expecting to see nothing but the smoldering remains of the goddess. Instead, small arrows of light shot out of the smoke, threatening to impale the clown, Kefka back flipped through the air, allowing the arrows to fly underneath him, Kefka retaliated with a charge through the air, toward the smoke. Twisting himself around, he allowed the Havok Wing to sprout out of his back, they struck something, but bent back as they did, it clearly wasn't Cosmos they had hit.

Returning himself to his proper orientation, and seeing that the smoke had cleared, Kefka saw a giant shield of light. With the attack blocked, the shield thrust forward, catching Kefka on the front of it, he could feel the light energy of the shield burning his body as he was dragged back, until finally the shield exploded. He was flung back, even as the lightly flames tried to engulf him, flying several meters back before landing away from Cosmos' Throne.

With a groan Kefka returned to his feet, seeing Cosmos standing calmly where she had been before he had used the Light of Judgment, he felt his own brand of psychopathic irritation rising.

"I hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate YOU!" Kefka staggered for a moment, then returned to the air, "What do you think struggling can accomplish?"

Cosmos' calmness left her face at that statement, bowing her head and looking to the side. "Nothing we do will change this situation, freedom is beyond us, here."

Kefka raised an eyebrow at the goddess' statement. "Hey, hey hey hey. We fight, and we get to kill people we don't like, that's all we really need!"

Cosmos blinked and returned her head to its raised position. "That is a viewpoint few would understand, and less would appreciate."

"Why do you think I hate people so much?"

Cosmos made no response to this, instead, she summoned small bits of light around her, preparing to continue the fight.

* * *

**Cosmos is Chaos' equal in terms of power, as such, the fact she's not seen fighting at all in Dissidia was, in my opinion, the big flaw with its story. So here we go.**

**Please Review.**


	36. The Emperor of Hell

**The official **english** 012 Website has been updated with the TGS. The diolouge is still in Japanese, but it has English subtitles, it helps people who don't understand Japanese (like me) make more sense of what's going on.**

**Anyway, I've decided, in this fic, to give the Emperor's "Hell" form a more original moveset. More evil/demonic, I really felt that, in Dissidia, he didn't really seem to have any appropriate "hellish" attacks. Maybe I'm the only one who thinks his movestyle seemed somewhat lackluster in that regard, but...**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

"You reeeeally should just save me the trouble." Kefka felt the surge of magic through his arm and fired the subtly small burst of Ultima at the goddess. As the orb began to approach the nearby goddess, Kefka took the time to cast Blizzaga, summoning an ice shard that firmly planted itself into the ground, then began spinning rapidly.

The giant chunk of ice spun towards Cosmos as the Ultima sphere exploded, the ice shard spun into the explosion, disappearing inside it, Kefka laughed at the assumption that both attacks had hit Cosmos, but as the smoke cleared, what he saw was not an injured goddess.

Cosmos had a thin layer of light surrounding her, the light obscured her actual appearance with its solid white mass, then it dispersed with the smoke, revealing the uninjured deity.

"Oh… what's wrong with you? Too holy to get hurt?"

"It's not that, it's just…" Cosmos looked out toward the distance, in the same direction of the canyon so much fighting is occurring at. "You aren't the one to end me, this time."

"What are you talking about?" Kefka felt the surge of magic through his arms again, expanding, overflowing through him. Then, the energy exploded out of him, releasing magical field of energy around Kefka, blocking view of him for a small moment. After a few seconds, the energy was sucked back into Kefka, but he looked different now, his jester outfit had disappeared, replaced with an unnatural and unholy visage of a fallen angel.

"I'm all-powerful, I restored the… _statues_!" Floating up in the air on wings sprouting from his back, Kefka returned to his usual fighting stance, "I'm as much a deity as you, more of a deity, I'm magic itself!"

Calmly, evenly, Cosmos attacked, she brought her left arm up and pointed her finger at Kefka. This movement summoned small dots of light in the air between Cosmos and Kefka, each lingered for a second, then exploded.

Explosion after explosion, getting increasingly closer to Kefka, Kefka swiftly moved higher in the air, dodging the attack easily enough. With a smirk, Kefka raised his hand in the air again, preparing to cast Light of Judgment again, this time empowered by Kefka's new form.

Thrusting his hand down, the beam of light came down again, but this time, when it struck Cosmos, it generated real pain in the deity, but only succeeded in making her bend her knees slightly.

As the dust cleared, Kefka frowned at the lack of injury it had generated in Cosmos. He became more upset by her retaliation, a blinding light appeared above Kefka, he turned up to see a portal of some kind, and a giant spike made of light come out of it, striking him hard on his shoulder, thrusting him back into the ground. He hit the ground, only to be bounced slightly up in a recoil affect, but the portal shined forth with a massive beam of light from the heavens, descending from the sky, it struck on Kefka even as he was bouncing off the ground. Forced back in the ground by the light, he was immolated by the divine power, burning, roasting…

The light vanished after only a few seconds, and Kefka had vanished with it.

"I'm sorry… but, in the end, you are a false deity." Cosmos closed her eyes and shook her head, she herself was simply a "made" deity, perhaps she was false, herself. She raised her head again and looked in the direction of the canyon, someone would be coming for her soon…

* * *

Jecht charged first, heading straight for the Emperor. The crystallized copy of Sephiroth tried to interfere, but a single swing of Jecht's sword cut off the creature's right arm.

With the creature out of the way, Jecht had a clear shot at Mateus, but as he approached him, a single spike appeared from the ground between Mateus and Jecht, stopping the advance.

"Before we begin, allow me to change the arena to something more… desirable." Mateus brought both his arms forward, folding his hands around his staff, the energy of hell surrounded him as spikes began to form all around him.

The energy seeped out of the Emperor and into the ground, spreading and flattening, slowly changing the ground to another mysterious color.

Strange crystalline structures began to jut out of the ground, pillars of unknown matter rose from the ground.

"Welcome to Pandemonium… insects." It was true, the Emperor had summoned Pandemonium, the palace of hell, into the cycle, the only difference was the lack of a roof.

"With the power of hell at its greatest, even you must understand the futility of trying to stand against me."

Mateus' statement was answered with a ripple of power under him, he turned his gaze down to see water churning under him. Calmly, he spun to the side as a geyser burst forth from under him, he stopped his movement and turned his attention toward the originator of the attack, the Tarutaru.

"So that is your answer." Mateus tightened his grip on his scepter, "Such fools, do you understand what you're fighting against?" the Emperor charged energy through his body, and into his scepter.

As he began to float into the air, preparing an attack, Garland made his own move.

It was child's play to strike Laguna across the back with his sword, he and the others preoccupied with the Emperor. Laguna flew straight into one of the pillars set up around Pandemonium, Shantotto turned around when she saw Laguna fly past her field of judgment, immediately she fired a Flare spell at him, Garland slid to the side, allowing the fire to move past him, then spun toward her with his sword, forcing Shantotto to jump backwards from the attack.

Jecht was preoccupied trying to get to the Emperor, forcing Shantotto and Laguna to make do with what they had against Garland. The Emperor's attack, however, was a concern for all the Cosmos Warriors, the Emperor released his left hand's grip on his scepter, and raised his scepter up in the air, firing a single red beam. As it went up, the beam split into two beams, then split into four, then eight, before finally, the beams all exploded, and the left over pieces all began coming down.

Hell's rain… death.

Bits of the red energy began to shower down, as it fell on the exposed skin of the Cosmos Warriors, it made their skin cook and boil. The Emperor had nothing to fear, empowered by hell itself, and Garland's armor protected him from the attack, yet the three Cosmos Warriors were at a severe disadvantage now.

Two of them at least, Shantotto erected a Wall spell against the rain, she was about to do the same for her allies, but Garland came upon her, canceling her attempts to cast the defensive spell. She dodged the first vertical swing, and attempted to retaliate with a Burst spell, but Garland cut her off by taking a second blade off of his sword and charging at her, forcing her to instead cast a Protect spell.

She felt Garland's two swords cut into her, but just barely. Thanks to the Protect spell, she felt herself being thrown into a pillar, but she felt next to no pain. As she landed back on her feet, she turned to Laguna, he was obviously struggling against the unholy rain, this truly was the palace of hell, there was no cover anywhere against the strange rain. Sadistic architecture.

On the other side of the room, Jecht was still trying to get at the Emperor, but with a swing of his scepter, Mateus erected solid red beams in front of him, forming a barrier. Jecht attempted to dodge around them, but Mateus pointed his scepter at Jecht and fired a red electrical surge, catching Jecht on his leg.

The electrical attack dispersed after only a moment, but Jecht wasn't able to run, he struck the leg that had been attacked with his free hand, only to discover that the leg had gone numb. With an aggravated grunt, Jecht dragged the leg with him, not feeling any life returning to it, even as Mateus began his next attack.

"Surely you can tell, how helpless you are in your current state." Mateus motioned his finger at Jecht, "Surrender to rage and want for power, then perhaps you could hope to at least strike me."

Jecht leapt up at Mateus, a slightly unwieldy jump, due to being made with only two legs, but be managed to reach the Emperor's height. Yet the Emperor dodged the attack simply by floating higher into the air, causing Jecht's attack to fall short.

Falling back down, Jecht hit a pillar and immediately jumped off of it, raising higher in the air then his last jump brought him, until he was just above Mateus. Jecht swung his sword down, striking Mateus on the shoulder.

The attack made Jecht feel good about himself, until he noticed that Mateus almost didn't move at all. The Emperor suddenly turned around, his demonic eyes glowing a dim red, and not the slightest trace of pain creasing his inhuman face.

"Flea." Mateus brought his free hand forward and fired a wave of black energy, catching Jecht and dragging him away from the Emperor. The energy dispersed quickly, sending Jecht tumbling back to the ground, he landed unevenly on his still good leg. He struck his numb leg again, feeling some movement and sensation returning to it, but not enough to as much as run right now.

_Been a while since I was backed into a corner like this… _Jecht turned his gaze skyward, seeing Mateus floating back down to the ground, his feet sliding onto the strange colored stone that marked Pandemonium's architecture.

Though hurt by the strange rain, Laguna wasn't quite finished yet, with his run he unleashed a stream of bullets toward Garland. Yet the knight casually brought his sword up in front of him, deflecting the bullets, but it left him open to an attack from Shantotto, Garland should have sensed the strange chill in the air, but he didn't, and a massive shard of ice crashed down on him, sending him into the ground.

Simple deduction told Shantotto that that would only keep Garland down by a full second or so, so she began to cast a Wall spell on Laguna, to protect him from the rain. The magical barrier coated his body, shielding him from the rain, allowing him to fight normally. Shantotto turned to Jecht, he seemed completely unhindered by the rain, even as it boiled his skin. She was considering casting a Wall spell on him, just to be safe, but then she turned around and saw Garland's hand latch firmly onto her face.

Garland charged around the area, dragging Shantotto across the floor, even with her Protect spell still in effect, Shantotto could feel her body being worn out. It continued for a few moments, then Garland dragged her into the air and knocked her into a wall, she crashed into the surface, and the impact send cracks across the stone, before she fell onto the ground.

Garland began to approach her, when he heard a small click sound, he turned to the side to see a grenade bounce right into his face, and then detonate, hurtling him back into another wall.

He prevented himself from falling by firmly placing his feet on the ground as his body recoiled from the wall. He immediately turned to the owner of the explosive, Laguna. Without a moment lost, Garland charged toward the man, only to be stopped by a Burst spell from Shantotto.

Agitated, Garland snapped his fingers, summoning Mateus' crystal warriors, the copies of Shantotto, Adel, and Richard. The Adel and Richard copy both went after Laguna, yet the Shantotto copy went after its namesake.

"You think you can win by copying me? You should just wait and see." Shantotto charged energy through her staff, then unleashed Flare upon her copy, who dodged out of the way. The crystal Shantotto ran up to the real thing and cast Firaga, three small fireballs shot out from the crystal Shantotto, but the real one jumped over it easily enough.

So close to her crystal copy, Shantotto did not want to risk the time necessary to cast a spell, and instead opted to simply take her staff out and strike her crystal enemy. The staff hit the crystal warrior on its cheek, cracking the crystal, Shantotto took note of this as she struck twice more on two separate parts of the crystal Shantotto's body.

As the crystal warrior backed off, Shantotto took note of the fact that its body seemed somewhat weak against direct impacts. With a smirk on her face, Shantotto threw her staff at the copy, the staff spun through the air, first striking the fake Shantotto's arm, completely shattering it off of the main body, then the staff spun back, hitting the crystal warrior on its back, shattering the entire thing into tiny shards.

"Not so tough after all! With these things, I'll have a ball!" Shantotto smirked and looked at Laguna, who was already making similar progress with the Adel and Richard copy.

"You know, for all the power you say you have, you don't seem all that interested in actually attacking." Jecht taunted the Emperor, Mateus had done nothing but dodge all the attacks the ace had made since they both landed. "You're nothing but talk, you'd get along well with my little crybaby, you know?"

"Oh, so you believe a lax offense equates to nothing to offer?" the Emperor turned away from Jecht, focusing his gaze on the two other Cosmos Warriors, "I am not a person one tries to challenge and ensnare with words, Jecht. Witness the price of your taunting."

The Emperor sprung into action, flying straight toward the other Cosmos Warriors, more exactly, he flew straight at Laguna. As he came up to him, the Emperor fired a black orb of energy at the ground, the wave of energy snaked under the ground, and erupted directly beneath Laguna.

Sent flying into the air, Laguna attempted to regain his orientation, and fired his gun at the Emperor. The bullets struck, but the Emperor didn't flinch, even as some shots went onto his face, and even in his eyes. Mateus simply lifted up his free hand and unleashed a small bubble of red energy that drifted slowly to Laguna. When it reached Laguna, it exploded, coating him in red energy, the same energy his death rain was made of, Shantotto's wall spell could not stop this.

Laguna fell back to the ground, his skin beginning to boil from the red energy stretching across him, but before he had endured too much, the Emperor pointed his scepter into the sky, summoning Starfall.

The giant space rock came down… right on Laguna. The rock came down fast, first crushing Laguna with its weight, until finally exploding, leaving a smoking crater where it landed, and not the faintest sign of Laguna anywhere.

"I hope you understand, Jecht…" Mateus floated back to the ground, keeping his back to the Cosmos Warrior, "You caused that. His end… is your fault."

* * *

**Please Review.**


	37. Summon of The Damned

**Nothing new on the 012 front. Bunch of new screenshots of Tifa, but nothing else.**

**In other news, I hear that XIV isn't doing so hot, but... eh, can't judge an MMO so fast. All I've really seen so far are the fan reviews, and I'd say about half of them are the time tired old bemoaning over the direction the series has taken after X. Maybe someday I'll play XIV for myself.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Shock and horror. That's all the raced through both the Cosmos Warriors right now. Laguna was dead… and Mateus, he had done it with casual ease. As the sight of the smoking crater sunk in, the shock melted away to rage, reflexively, fire came from Shantotto and headed directly for the Emperor.

It was a basic Fire spell, not something stronger, like Flare. The Tarutaru seemed too angry to process the arcane knowledge necessary for something stronger. Yet something stronger was necessary, as the Emperor erected a simple Wall to negate Shantotto's intended attack.

"Your rage is… appropriate, but you are not the one I want." The Emperor raised his free hand toward Shantotto, and opened a portal, straight into the hell that he had gained his power in. A claw came out of the portal, signaling the appearance of a giant insect to emerge as the portal closed.

"Beelzebub* can be your friend on this day." The Emperor turned away from Shantotto, returning his attention to Jecht. Predictably, Garland has engaged him, and the rage Jecht was feeling was allowing him to overwhelm Garland in terms of simple muscle. Though, he still lacked a good counter for Garland's adaptive weapon.

Garland reared back, switching his weapon to a form he hadn't sued on the conflict yet. The front of the weapon curled back and flattened itself, becoming a shield against Jecht's attack.

Jecht's own attacks were coming harsher then they had been for a long time, yet they were still having trouble penetrating Garland's defense. Until Jecht abandoned his orthodox offense, and instead reached an arm out at Garland, firmly grabbing Garland's shield and ripping it our of his hands.

Tossing the fused weapon over his shoulder, Jecht charged at Garland. With little to defend himself with, Garland took a step back to avoid Jecht's first horizontal strike, and then spin to the left to dodge a second horizontal slice. Jecht raised his sword up in the air and swung it down, Garland raised his right arm in front of his face and caught Jecht's sword, blocking the attack.

As the sword came off his arm, Garland took his right arm had shoved his armored fist toward Jecht, but Jecht simply spun to the side and swung his weapon painfully into Garland's side. Garland was thrown a few feet to the side from the attack, but managed to dig his soles into the ground before he was dragged too far away. He immediately charged at Jecht again, still without his weapon, Jecht readied his weapon and answered with his own charge.

The two came up on each other, and Garland flowed slightly to the left, and reached an arm out to grab Jecht's weapon just as Jecht swung it. Garland's grip stopped the blade mid-swing, even as Jecht kept pushing on the sword, locking the two in place as each tried to gain control over the weapon.

* * *

Meanwhile, Shantotto was fighting Mateus' hellspawned servant, Beelzebub. The insectoid demon, despite appearances, focused more on spell-casting then it did on its physical abilities. To the Tarutaru's surprise, it could use a Flare spell more refined then her own, not only more refined, but capable of completely overpowering and negating her own variation of the spell.

Shantotto was forced to jump above the large Flare fireball the insect had fired at her, and countered with a tamer Firaga spell, hoping the smaller casting time might allow the hit to get in.

However, when the Firaga hit Beelzebub, it merely re-energized the creature. Shantotto made a mental note, something that came from hell would likely not be hindered by fire, and instead prepared to cast Freeze instead. The Ice shard came down on the insect, but it seemed to only slightly hinder the creature.

"You're doing about as well as I would have expected." Mateus floated above the battle, not bringing himself to interfering in the battle. "Though it appears as a mindless beast, Beelzebub is an elite general of hell, I doubt someone like you could truly kill it."

Beelzebub rushed at Shantotto, flying on its wings, and unleashed another exceptionally powerful Flare spell, forcing Shantotto to evade, and countering with Blitz. The electricity came down on the insect, slightly cooking it, but doing only minimal damage overall. The insect flew at her again, this time with its very arms, trying to swipe at her, but she simply cast Waterga, trapping Beelzebub in a vortex of water, until the vortex erupted.

Beelzebub shuddered from the water coating it and took off into the air above. Flapping its wings at blinding speed, it shook off the water that was hindering their movement, though it had little to deal with the water drenching the rest of its body. So, it simply began its offense again, only to be struck by Shantotto's Stone spell, rocks the size of grown humans collided with Beelzebub's underside, disorienting its path, and forcing it to arc back and abandon its intended attack.

Shantotto attempted to cast Waterga again, but Beelzebub charged, clearing the area of effect of the spell. As the water appeared behind it, Shantotto wasn't able to disengage the spell fast enough to dodge the insect's limbs. One of the insect's claws managed to rake across Shantotto's face, throwing her to the ground, Beelzebub ascended into the air and prepared to cast Flare again.

Black orbs of fire appeared around Beelzebub, circling around it for a moment, before flying down toward Shantotto, each one impacting her. Beelzebub concentrated energy into a single final Flare orb bigger then the others, roughly thrice the size of the others, and flung it down on Shantotto as well, ushering in a volcanic explosion.

Beelzebub floated down, examining the debris with its beady eyes, looking for confirmation of the kill. Taking to the air, it floated toward the smoke, poking its head into the aftermath of its attack.

It's impatient curiosity over the possible finish of the battle was answered with a shard of Freeze ramming into its face, sending it scurrying back. A force of magical wind dispersed the smoke, revealing Shantotto, battered, but very much alive. Beelzebub scratched the pieces of ice off its face and turned back to the Tarutaru, it lunged at her, but Shantotto took her staff in hand and cast Drain.

Beelzebub flinched and shuddered as it felt life siphon out of it and into Shantotto. Shantotto's expression softened as she felt new energy enter her body, and then she proceeded to cast Bind on the cringing insect.

As the dark tendrils of magic appeared and held the insect in place, Shantotto cast Stone again, tearing the ground out and flinging it at Beelzebub. The insect was battered as the stones and debris tore across its body, flinching from every boulder that was tossed at it, until finally the attack stopped. The weakened insect turned to Shantotto to see one final slab of rock, impacting the insect squarely between the eyes.

The last stone knocked Beelzebub out of the Bind, and into one of the erected pillars. It slid onto the ground, fidgeted for a moment, then slumped motionless. Shantotto watched, expecting some final trick, until Beelzebub's body burst into flames, consuming it.

"I see." The Emperor floated back to the ground, examining Beelzebub's performance. "Your strength is beyond my expectations." He paused, then chuckled, "However, if you think defeating Beelzebub means than an insect like you has the strength to fight me, then allow me to correct such a painful misconception."

Mateus focused his eyes on Beelzebub, its body starting to turn to ash and crumble. "Lowly wretch, you shall be born again, but only to serve me further." Mateus turned around as the flames dispersed, leaving no trace of the insect, "As for you…"

The Emperor examined Shantotto carefully, "You have my permission to die. Your final use is to let Jecht see your death."

* * *

The struggle over Jecht's weapon was slowly turning in Garland's favor. Garland took a step forward, attempting to push the blade into Jecht's chest, but Jecht suddenly stopped pushing, and instead allowed himself to fall over onto his back. Garland, caught off-guard by this sudden change in movement, loosened his grip on the weapon, allowing Jecht to easily kick him in the gut, tossing the knight away.

Garland landed uncomfortably on his back, and looked up into the air to see Jecht about to jam his sword right into the knight's face. Garland quickly rolled to the side as Jecht's sword instead went straight into the ground, as he got to his feet, Garland made a brief scan of the area, spotting his sword right behind Jecht.

Jecht immediately charged, but Garland simply side-stepped him and rammed his fist into Jecht's back, sending him flying in that direction, giving Garland all the time he needed to reacquire his sword.

After gripping his weapon, Garland quickly spun around and held the sword in front of him, blocking a strike from Jecht. The blow was strong enough to make Garland's soles dig into the ground, but he quickly retaliated by grabbing the side of his own weapon and pulling a second sword out and spun a full 360 degrees, attempting to strike Jecht with both swords, but the Cosmos Warrior jumped back.

Jecht made no immediate moves as he landed, inciting Garland to fuse his sword back together. Maintaining his stance, Garland gripped his weapon in anticipation.

"Jecht. This is the third time in this cycle that we've fought each other…" Garland paused, recalling the fight at Order's Sanctuary, and the fight at Narshe closer to the mid-point, "…do you really believe you could win this time?"

"Yeah, keep telling yourself just how much damn better you are." Jecht jammed his sword in the ground and cracked his knuckles, "If you think you're previous track record will amount to something, then I've got something to show you."

Taking his sword again, Jecht maintained a serious expression, he was going all out in this battle. He charged forward, making the first vertical swing, which was blocked by Garland's sword, Garland retaliated with a direct stab, but Jecht simply side-stepped. Jecht attempted to punch with his free hand, before the fist could connect, Garland had grabbed Jecht's wrist with his own free hand, and shoved him away.

Garland attempted to strike the off-balance Jecht, but Jecht managed to put his sword between himself and Garland, preventing the knight's sword from hitting him. Jecht was tossed back slightly, but he regained his footing quickly enough, he charged at Garland again, and their swords locked against each other.

As the sound of the weapons straining against each other screeched out, Jecht took one hand off of the hilt of his weapon and reached out to Garland. He intended to grab Garland by the face, but Garland moved his head to the side, leaving Jecht to grab one of the horns protruding out of Garland's helmet.

With a firm grip, Jecht attempted to swing Garland to the left, but only managed to move Garland a few inches before the knight managed to force his fist right into Jecht's face.

Jecht flew back, releasing his grip on Garland's horn, Garland's weapon took the shape of an axe before he charged at Jecht again. Jecht readied his defense, raising his sword in front of him, but failed to notice that Garland had changed his weapon's shape, thus failing to realize that the axe shape would give that little extra bit of power.

Garland's horizontal strike came, and Jecht's sword was ripped from his hands, Jecht jumped to the side to dodge Garland's attempted second strike, jumping right up to his sword and instantly reacquiring it. Jecht landed and immediately sprang back at Garland, Garland molded his weapon back into a sword and lifted the weapon straight above his head, then brought it down to the ground.

The force of the impact sent tremors through the ground, the ground unevenly jutted upwards, creating a shield between Jecht and Garland. Thoroughly unimpressed, Jecht raised his fist and slammed it straight into the earthen wall, shattering it, and closing the distance between him and Garland.

Garland spun to the left and made a low horizontal slice, but Jecht jumped above the attack. As Garland's attack slid across the ground, Jecht raised his weapon, and began to fall back down, Garland looked up to see a vertical slice coming down on him…

* * *

***If anyone's freaking out, Beelzebub was one of the bosses in the last dungeon in FFII. I believe Beelzebub was intended to look like a fly, but, in Dawn of Souls, it looks more like a generic insect monster to me. It doesn't really do much of anything but cast Flare XVI over and over again.**

**Please Review.**


	38. Plans Nearing Fruition

**Well, looks like the offical confirmation is that 012 will have 4 to 10 new characters, counting the ones who have already been confirmed.**

**Which bugs me a bit, because in a worst case scenario, there could only be one more character to unveil. I certainly... hope we get more then just four characters.**

**Non-incidentially, because I used Beelzebub in the last chapter, I went back and checked its sprite in the bestiary of Dawn of Souls. You know, before now, I never noticed that it had a cape. Really, an insect in a _cape_. Didn't see that coming.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Jecht's sword came down… hard. Yet Garland made the movement to get away from its path, the tip of the blade sliced just an inch away from Garland's face as it came down and impacted the ground.

A soft tremor rippled through the ground after the attack struck, similar to the tremors Garland could cause by striking the ground. Though the uncoordinated nature of the shift in the ground made it clear that it wasn't what Jecht was trying to do with the attack. After the blade hit the ground, Jecht immediately pulled it back and attempted to charge Garland again, a simple matter, seeing as they were barely two feet away from each other now.

Garland attempted to raise his sword in defense, but Jecht reached and grabbed Garland's sword arm, and then proceeded to strike Garland in the face with the flat of his sword.

Garland reeled back, but Jecht didn't let go of Garland's arm, pulling Garland back, Jecht suddenly released Garland's arm and used his now free hand to ram a fist into the knight's gut.

The world seemed to pause in the knight's viewpoint as the force of the punch registered on him, and then he was flung away. Garland flew through the war, flying away from Jecht, until slamming into a wall.

A quick shake of his head to regain his orientation, and Garland immediately sprang back to his feet, sword in hand, he stormed toward Garland.

As they reached each other, they attacked, Jecht attempted a horizontal swing into the side of Garland's head. Garland, instead, ducked the attack and swept his sword along the ground, hitting Jecht's heels and taking him off his feet. Garland then spun in a full circle and collided his sword with Jecht's side, sending him away, Jecht flew toward a wall, but reoriented himself and landed with his feet on the stone, and rebounded back at Garland.

Garland raised his sword in defense, but Jecht instead passed above the knight, and struck him in the back of the head. The force moved Garland forward a few feet, until he spun around and swung his weapon. The end of the sword extended on a chain and swept across the battlefield, forcing Jecht to jump back to dodge the suddenly enlarged range of Garland's weapon.

As the chain retracted, Jecht moved forward, planning on a frontal stab at Garland's gut, but Garland's sword blocked the blow. Their swords pushed against each other, after a moment, Garland began to move his legs, forcing Jecht to back up from Garland's advance.

After only a few steps, Garland relented from pushing and pulled his weapon back, then swung it at Jecht. Jecht reacted, managing to just barely deflect Garland's sword with his own weapon. Undeterred, Garland attacked again, this blow was also blocked by Jecht, but it loosened Jecht's grip on his weapon as well.

Garland took a step back and made a vertical but, from ground to sky, and struck a blow to Jecht, sending him into the air, and back down, on his back.

Jecht quickly scampered back onto his feet, Garland moved at him again, Jecht readied a defense.

* * *

"You should consider this a great honor, Windrustian." Mateus released his grip on his scepter, letting it flow through the air around him. "You will be the first to witness the full extent my new power."

The Emperor paused for a moment, then began to float off the ground, a surge of demonic energy erupting from him, generating into a dark enflaming aura around him.

"First you shall see… then you shall die!" The Emperor reached his right hand out and grabbed his scepter. He immediately sprung into action, pointing his scepter at the Tarutaru mage, summoning a massive cyclone from the air above.

Shantotto moved to the left before the funnel of wind reached her, but the suction of the Cyclone was tugging on her. She countered the Emperor's attack by casting Gravity on him, a dark orb appeared in the air above the Emperor, it came down, attempting to pull Mateus with it, but it instead simply past through him. Without the slightest negative effect.

"Realize how weak you truly are." Mateus again pointed his scepter at Shantotto, moving the Cyclone to her position. The Emperor then brought his free hand up and snapped his fingers, the ground Shantotto was standing on rippled, gaining the fluidity of water, and then encircled Shantotto's legs, ensnaring her before hardening again.

Shantotto initially tried to break the ground around her legs with a Fire spell, but it ineffectively bounced off the mass of ground. Shantotto looked up toward the Cyclone creeping in, no doubt the Emperor was amused by just how slowly it was approaching her.

With very little time left, Shantotto erected a Wall, hoping to lessen the effects of the Cyclone to some degree. She then moved to casting an Aero spell, firing it directly at the Cyclone, hoping to, on some level, weaken it, but the wind she unleashed was pathetically dispersed by the much stronger force of the Cyclone.

With no other options, Shantotto was forced to let the Cyclone take her. The ground released its hold on her just so that she could be sucked into it, spinning along the rims of the cyclone, the fierce wind tearing and ripping at her body. She spent several minutes in the Cyclone, before finally being jettisoned out the top of it, the Cyclone dispersed as Shantotto was flung out, allowing her the painful trip back to the bottom.

Shantotto landed painfully, Mateus casually walked up to her, examing the state she was now in.

"So this is the great "hero" of Windrust?" The Emperor shook his head. "How ridiculous."

"Your enemies deserved to die if they were defeated by such an insignificant insect like you." Mateus reached his free hand out, preparing to cast the electrical burst that would end the fight… when something unexpected happened.

Shantotto's body began to give off white-smoke, completely enveloping her, then the smoke dispersed. Where Shantotto had once lay, there was now a doll that had a distinct resemblance to the mage.

"What?" Mateus withdrew his left hand, "When did she-" cutting himself off, Mateus turned around and deflected a blast of Blizzara from the real Shantotto.

"Impressive. I never noticed you make the switch." Mateus chuckled, "It's not often to find someone who can delude me… I assure you, you won't live to do it a second time."

Mateus slammed his scepter on the ground, at once spikes sprouted up all around Shantotto, sealing every direction except for straight up. Even that was soon cut off, as orbs of demonic energy appeared at the tip of each spike, then they suddenly converged. It was all Shantotto could do to just put up a Wall before they came down.

The explosion triggered, and the spikes sunk back into the ground. Mateus paced up to the smoke, more cautious this time, to determine Shantotto's current status.

His caution was well founded, and he raised a barrier to deflect a Flare spell that came from the smoke. When the Flare spell went away, Mateus dispersed the smoke with a light wind from his scepter, revealing Shantotto, injured, but clearly still able.

Unphased, the Emperor unleashed a blue homing Flare spell from his free hand, Shantotto was forced to retreat from the projectile that was going out of its way to close in on her. Shantotto cast Stone as she was fleeing, rupturing the ground directly beneath the Emperor, but he simply took to the air to dodge the attack.

Shantotto saw the Emperor rise, then immediately returned to running to get away from the Flare. The Emperor glided above her, unleashing en electrical storm from his free hand, the electricity raced down, striking Shantotto directly. The blast stunned her, but she immediately returned to running, even as the Emperor continued his electrical barrage.

Bolt after bolt came down, even as the slow-moving Flare attempted to corner her, until it exploded.

Shantotto paused and looked at where the Flare had been, evidentially it could only last for so long. She had little time to ponder this, however, as Mateus' attack continued, Shantotto jumped up in the air, landing on higher ground, to get away from the Emperor's constant attacks.

She attempted to counter his attacks with a spell, but when she turned to him, another blast of electricity knocked her staff out of her hands. She was forced to witness the staff flying behind her, landing and rolling along the ground, before turning back to the Emperor.

Mateus unleashed another blast of electricity, and Shantotto made her defense. Even without her staff, she retained her own magical ability, and caught the blast of electricity with her right hand. She felt the energy absorbing into her palm, but the mere absorption was painful, it was obvious that the electricity was not natural magic electricity, it had to have been the Emperor's own hellish brand of thunderbolts.

Still, she endured the pain going through her, even as the Emperor intensified the power of the electrical current. She winced and cringed from the pain, feeling her legs falter. She looked like she was, for all extents and purposes, doomed.

"In the end, only an insect." Mateus increased the power of the electricity even more, "For all your power, you could not defend your precious deity."

Shantotto felt a surge of frustration go through him, the thought of failing Cosmos was… unbearable. She felt a sudden spike of determination as the pain seemed to disappear, it was more then just her imagination, the Emperor seemed to have suddenly been surprised by something about the exchange of the electricity.

After a moment, she began to cast Burst, slowly pushing the electricity of the Emperor back. Further, further, until it was at the dead center, but Shantotto's intention wasn't precisely to force her electricity on the Emperor. Instead, she allowed her Burst spell to… detonate.

An explosion was triggered between the two warriors, tossing both of them back. Shantotto was flung to the area right beside her staff, while the Emperor flew straight into a wall, disoriented.

"You… lowly gnat!" The Emperor returned to his feet, "You actually managed to injure me…" The Emperor tightened his grip on his scepter as he summoned power around him once again, "Perhaps it is time I stopped holding back my power."

Mateus thrust his left arm forward, opening the palm as he did so, unleashing a small condensed beam of black energy. The beam sailed forward, it came upon the Tarutaru and pierced. Right. Through.

The beam disappeared only a few moments later, leaving Shantotto with a hole in her abdomen. Shantotto felt herself fall to the ground as she felt the pain shoot through her body, she tried to get back up on her feet, but the pain paralyzed her.

After several seconds, she succeeded in getting back to her feet, but the pain she was in was obvious. With her staff returned to her hand, she attempted to counter the pain she was in with a Drain spell.

Instead, when she tried to cast, the Emperor reached his left arm out, and Shantotto's staff was pulled right out of her hands, going straight into the Emperor's free one.

Mateus examined the staff for a moment, seemingly amused by its small size, before clenching his fingers around it, straining for a moment, then snapping it in two separate pieces.

"Your resistance is at an end, insect." Mateus watched the two pieces of Shantotto's staff burst into flames, "You have just one other purpose in this war… die."

Saying that, the Emperor glided forward… then vanished. He reappeared directly behind the Tarutaru, and gently placed his scepter on the back of her head, unleashing a blast of energy, flinging her across the battlefield.

* * *

The fight between Jecht and Garland had continued with fairly little new developments, until something caught the eye of both combatants, on the corner of their sights. They both backed away from each other, allowing a fairly small object to come crash in between them and slam into a wall.

As the dust settled, it took only a moment for Jecht to recognize what the object had been.

"Shan…Shantotto!" Jecht moved to her side, he reached a hand out and shook her by her shoulder. A small groan came from the mage, and her closed eyes twitched.

"I thought she would have died on impact." Mateus materialized beside Garland, "No matter, she's expire in a few moments, her fate is sealed… as is yours, Jecht."

"You…!" Jecht stood back up, preparing to kill both of the Chaos Warriors, the Emperor in particular, "I'll show you what happens when you kill an ace's fr-augh!"

Jecht's body suddenly cringed, something was happening inside of him.

"Yes, summon the hatred that would make you a Chaos Warrior!" Mateus laughed as waves of red energy appeared around Jecht, signaling the fruition of his plans for the man. After a moment, a blinding flash appeared, when the light disappeared, Jecht had been replaced by an abomination floating above them.

"Well, well, the Final Aeon." Mateus chuckled, then turned to Garland. "Knight, allow me to take appropriate action, you may go, and end this meaningless cycle."

Garland paused to look at the Emperor, then at what had become of Jecht. Something told him that the Emperor was performing actions detrimental to the cycle, but he dissuaded himself from saying anything. Nothing the Emperor could do could possibly damage the Cycle in anyway, so he left, heading for Cosmos, as the Emperor prepared to face off with the Final Aeon.

* * *

**Please Review.**


	39. Otherworld

**You know, risking a potential semi-rant here, in regards to Dissidia, seeing as Shantotto had been effectively killed in my little story, I should say that I really don't like the implications of where Shantotto was sent after the war.**

**I assume that SE was trying to say that Gabranth went to "Hell" and Shantotto went to "Heaven". Yet I think that rather then be "rewarded" with something like that, I'd sooner think that most Cosmos Warriors would much rather just be sent back to their own worlds. I haven't played XI, but I'm given to assume that Shantotto is fairly devoted to Windurst.**

**That, and the scholary approach to Heaven "pursuit of knowledge in peace" is one of the more nonsensical descriptions of a heavenly/glorious afterlife I've seen. (Not counting obvious joke/parody depictions of Heaven, of course.) Where do the Cosmos Warriors who are not scholars/mages get sent?**

**Maybe I'm reading too much into this, while Shantotto and Gabranth's stories did fit into Dissidia's overall plot, they were, for all extents and purposes, just extras.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

The Emperor floated up in the air, reaching the point where his eyes were level with Jecht's new form. The Aeon's face changed into a skewered hateful expression, though the rationality was fast vanishing through his mind, only a faint feeling crawling through his head, he could remember hatred for Mateus.

The Aeon attacked first, with it's left clawed hand, it swiped at the Emperor. Mateus moved his hand across the air, erecting a stone shield, made of the same materials that Pandemonium was made of, the claw scraped across the metal, slicing it to pieces, but failed to touch the Emperor.

In response, the Aeon fired a piercing beam from its eyes, but the Emperor simply moved to the left. Mateus raised a clenched fist, and then opened the palm. In response, a black portal appeared, as the portal to hell opened, a figure emerged. A unholy winged figure, Astaroth.

The fallen angel attempted a strike on the Aeon, but a rather unimpressed Jecht simply impaled the creature on its claw. Mateus smirked at the power Jecht was using, even if he couldn't control it.

Mateus abandoned the idea of summoning a King Behemoth, seeing that the Final Aeon clearly had the power to overwhelm the base-born denizens of hell. Mateus charged forward, straight into the Aeon's reach, when something interesting happened.

Two segmented pillars appeared by Jecht's sides, the Yu Pagodas. Mateus stopped his movement and pulled back, preferring to see what the pillars were for before anything else.

Rather then attack, the pillars immediately began to heal Jecht's Aeon form. Not amused by the sight of the Aeon being healed, Mateus pointed his scepter at the left Yu Pagodas, and fired a medium sized green orb. The orb sailed forward and struck the pillar, but simply dispersed, doing no significant damage, the Aeon responded to the attempted by attack by unleashing its piercing eye beams again.

The Emperor spun out of the way, then turned to the Aeon and pointed his scepter again. This time casting Starfall, the chunk of rock descended from the air, falling on the left Yu Pagodas, and completely demolishing it. The Aeon looked to the side, and released a growl at the sight of the pillar crumbling under the weight of Starfall, it turned back to see Mateus unleash an electrical burst upon the second pillar. The second quivered, but remained steady, the Aeon swiped its claw through the air again, forcing Mateus to move even further back.

Mateus moved ahead again, unleashing a blast of electricity on the Aeon's face, even as he went over the creature's soldier. The Aeon reeled back from the sudden pain, but then raised its left arm in the air, hoping to catch Mateus between its arm and head, but failed as Mateus moved through the closing opening in time. The Emperor turned around and fired another blast of electricity at the back of the Aeon's head.

_My last task this cycle is to let it fill with frustration, then kill it. I must draw this fight out just a little… longer._

Mateus unleashed a second burst of electricity as the Aeon began to turn around, but the Aeon raised its right, more normal hand to block it. It then attempted to swipe its clawed arm again, attempting to slice Mateus in half. The Emperor ascended into the air above the attack's trajectory, then raised his free arm and released a subtle green mass of energy, the green energy moved forward and ensnared the Aeon, prohibiting movement to a massive degree.

The classic Slow spell, the Aeon could barely move now. The Emperor planned to stall the current situation, let the Aeon's anger at being unable to move continue to grow, but the Yu Pagodas evidentially had other plans. Unleashing a force of energy, the segmented pillar erased the effects of the Slow spell, then attempted to cast Curse on the Emperor.

Mateus moved to the left to dodge the attempted Curse, even as a beam from the Aeon's eyes was fired. Mateus was left without enough time to dodge the Aeon's attack, and felt the beam strike him directly in the chest. The attack lasted only a moment, and the Emperor was sent tumbling through the air, descending back into the ground.

Mateus landed on his feet, but immediately went into a kneeling position, in front of him the Final Aeon was attempting to bring an end to his life with one claw swipe. Forcing his pained body to move, Mateus flew into the air, dodging the claw swipe, he pointed his scepter at the Aeon, summoning another Starfall directly on the Aeon.

Unexpectedly, the Aeon raised its hands in the air and simply caught the Starfall in the air. The Aeon looked back down at Mateus and simply smiled, it lifted up in the air and threw the Starfall at the Emperor.

With the advent of his own attack being used against him, Mateus teleported away. The Starfall impacted where the Emperor had once been standing, impacting, and then detonating, reducing the area to a smoking crater. The Aeon examined the area around him, having seen him teleport away, and looking for any sign of the Emperor.

Yet Mateus was coming at him from behind, swooping down from the air, approaching the Aeon's neck from behind. Pointing his scepter, Mateus unleashed a blast of hell flame at the back of the Aeon's head. The Aeon immediately twisted back around when the attack ended, immediately swiping through the air again, which the Emperor dodged by moving back, away from the Aeon, and then unleashing a burst of electricity on the Aeon's chest.

When the electricity ended, the Aeon paused, and looked down at its chest, where the electricity had struck. It turned its gaze back to the Emperor and gritted its teeth, the Emperor returned to the ground, intending to watch the Aeon's next movement.

The Aeon reached a hand to its chest, and gripped a handle that began protruding from its chest. Raising an eyebrow, Mateus witnessed the Aeon pull a massive sword out of its chest. An exact replica of Jecht's own sword.

Removing the entire sword from its chest, it immediately swung its arm upward, leaving its intent obvious. The sword fell down, forcing Mateus to flip backwards to dodge, but the force of the attack connecting shattered the ground beneath Mateus, the Emperor looked down, and reaffirmed himself of the need to ensure that he is not struck by the sword.

Looking back up, the Emperor saw the Aeon preparing to raise its sword, Mateus quickly spun to the side to dodge the sudden ascension of the sword. Though the attack was dodged, Mateus didn't have the time to move out of the way of the sword's reactive descent, and was caught on the flat side of the falling blade.

The Aeon slammed the sword into the ground, succeeding in severely damaging the land, and kicking up a massive dust cloud. Jecht pulled his sword back and kept watch on the dust, waiting for any possible sign of his enemy.

Sure enough, after a few moments, Mateus rose up above the dust, the effects on the attack were obvious. Though the unholy monstrous visage of the Hell Emperor's face remained mostly untouched, the damaged to the armor was apparent, and the cape had been shredded by the impact. Yet with his familiar scepter in hand, the Emperor shot a murderous glance at the Aeon.

_This should be enough. To prolong the fight would be… unnecessary._

The Aeon snarled again, attempting a horizontal slash, but the Emperor dove back down to dodge, descending back into the dust cloud, which was starting to settle down.

Pausing for a moment, the Aeon proceeded to ignite the laser from its eyes once more, right into the cloud, yet it hit nothing. Unknown to the Aeon, Mateus had already departed from the cloud.

Having teleported behind and above the Aeon, the Emperor pointed his scepter at the creature, then lifted it above his head, releasing his grip on it, letting it float in the air, rapidly spinning above him.

A flat electric symbol sprouted from the Emperor's feet, the lightning's power surged as the Emperor drew power from Hell itself for his next attack.

Starfall X.

The deadly star came from above, carrying with it the power of hell. This one, greater then any that the Emperor had summoned before in the war, came hurtling down from the sky, and came directly upon the Final Aeon.

The Aeon had caught wind of the object that was coming down, and attempted to catch it in it's hands. It, however, underestimated the power of Starfall X, though it tried to hurl it away, the Aeon was caught off-guard by the massive weight of the star, and was being pushed down under the mass.

Jecht was faltering under the attack, but he attempted to stab the star with his sword, but rather then stab straight into it, the blade was repelled, and slid pathetically along the side of it. The Aeon attempted the same tactic again, but was thwarted in much the same way.

The star began to push down on the Aeon, bringing it closer to the ground, pushing further down, until the Aeon was trapped under the star, and then it ignited.

Mateus could only laugh from a distance as the explosion appeared in his eyes. The Aeon disappeared under the flame, and the Emperor descended back to the ground, though he made no direct effort to approach the smoke.

As the smoke vanished, there was no further sign of the Aeon, the Emperor began to approach the damage that Starfall X has caused.

Floating above the damage, covered with ash, he smirked again.

_That should be enough._

He might have concluded that everything was over, until he heard a quiet moan from behind him, he snapped around…

* * *

Garland moved slowly through the shallow water of Order's Sanctuary. The place where the first conflict of this war had begun, and now, where the last one would take place. The knight's movements remained slow as he approached the throne of Cosmos, the tip of his thick sword trailing through the water.

Something about the end of a cycle made him almost melancholy, though he knew it would simply start again. The voice of Shinryu told him as much, for as long as Chaos has not reached perfection, the war must continue.

The reasoning behind the cycle meant little to Garland, as long as he took part in worthy combat. Though, something about this particular cycle seemed left-handed, even in his eyes, the sheer independence of the actions the Emperor was taking…

Garland's train of thought was cut off as a blast of light appeared at the throne before him, as the light dispersed, he saw exactly who he expected.

"Goddess." Garland narrowed his eyes on the deity, "So another war draws to a close."

"Yes…" Cosmos bowed her head, an aura of worry and misery that could almost be _tasted_ was coming off of her. "I've led even more Warriors to doom, and I have no choice but to do it again."

"Remorse?" Garland shook his head, "We have gone through so many wars, and still you bother to care about the pawns."

Cosmos raised her head back up, "You would embrace slaughtering them so willingly, don't you feel any sadness?"

"In the end, all shall repeat, all Warriors shall return, and they will remember nothing." Garland took a step forward, tightening his grip on his weapon as he lowered it slightly. "They are meaningless, better to enjoy ourselves with them."

Cosmos made no direct response, but her face changed from a sorrowful expression to one that displayed disgust at Garland's take on the situation. Yet words had lost their meaning, Garland sunk into his familiar battle stance, and Cosmos rose into the air, tendrils of light spawning around her.

Garland's grip tightened even further, eager to face the Goddess once again.

* * *

**Please review.**


	40. The Final Battle

**You'd think that this chapter would give me some trouble, but nah, Cosmoss fighting style was... suprisingly easy to concieve.**

**Anyway, in terms of 012, Vaan's been confirmed. A fact I actually learned about 5 minutes (five friggin minutes) after uploading the **last** chapter, but I didn't feel like editing the AN.**

**If the XII villain is Gabranth, then I'd really think that Basch would be the best hero to pick, they used similar logic to justify Jecht over Seymour with X. Even Ashe has a more relevent connection with Gabranth then Vaaan does. Though I'm probably slightly baised, considering that Ashe is my favorite heroine in the series, XII isn't one of my favorite games in the series, but it is home to some of the cooler characters SE has made. (IMO)**

**And here I thought that, with Shantotto and Gabranth seeming to oppose each other in the first Dissidia, that they'd just add another XI hero and another XII villain. There goes my Prishe vs. Vayne idea out the window.**

**I'm suprised they haven't revealed a stage for XI yet. Though on one hand, I can understand why they haven't. Seeing as each stage in Dissidia is based on the final dungeon, if they revealed an XI stage, they'd probably give away the XI villain they'd use. Castle Zvahl would more or less confirm the Shadow Lord from XI's original content, the Celestial Noxus would roughly confirm Eald'narche from Rise of Zilart, and the Empyreal Paradox would, hold on...**

**...a Chains of Promathia villain would be tricky, actually. Promathia would be very hard to use, at least as a playable character, maybe he could be workable if he was a "boss battle" in the same vein as Chaos, but for CoP, I'd sooner take a cue from another fan-fic writer, who shall remain nameless, and choose Nag'molada. Fighting Promathia as a giant boss **would** be awesome, but I really don't see SE doing that.**

**I'd choose Shadow Lord overall, though. Partly because he was XI's original final boss, but also because Shantotto vs. Shadow Lord has a nifty little David vs. Goliath theme to it.**

**Um, wow, I think I got carried away with all that, you came here to read a fanfic, not my musing about XI and XII characters in 012.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Cosmos floated in the air for a moment, the Chaos knight waiting patiently for the fight to begin, but seemingly unwilling to be the one who made the first move. This moment was seemingly captured, both combatants waiting for the other to move first, a minute passed, then two, yet the fight did not begin.

As the stalemate drew on, Garland felt something odd about the ground he was standing on… then he recalled a trick Cosmos had used in a previous cycle. Garland leapt to the side as the ground he was standing on erupted in a flash of light, the light lingered for a moment, then vanished, but the battle had begun.

Garland charged on the ground toward the floating Goddess, but Cosmos waved her left arm, summoning scores of spheres around Garland. In purpose, the spheres were similar to the stationary spheres that Mateus would summon, but they were quite different in visual design, and far more powerful. Yet to Garland, they were just more of the same, moving his sword to the side, Garland allowed the end of the sword to extend off of a chain, and swung the blade, the weapon sliced through the orbs, triggering their explosion.

Obscured by smoke, Cosmos lost track of Garland, until the knight burst into view, ready to strike at Cosmos, but the Goddess suddenly turned transparent at the sight of the approaching Chaos warrior. Garland's attack, as well as Garland himself, simply passed right through the Goddess.

Garland spun around in the air, turning to face Cosmos again, more then familiar with this trick. Garland's weapon molded into an axe, and he attempted another attack on Cosmos, this one she simply teleported away from.

The knight turned his gaze to and fro around Order's Sanctuary, as he landed, he had scanned the entire area, and there was no sign of Cosmos anywhere. Garland began to suspect that she had fled, when bits of light energy suddenly converged around him, the little pieces of light stuck to him, holding him in place, reflexively Garland dashed away from the center of the light.

Though slightly slowed down by the grasp of some of the smaller pieces, they detached, lacking the strength to hold him in place. Almost immediately after he dashed away, a bright beam of light descended from above, crashing directly where the light had been collecting.

The light dissipated after a moment, but the force it struck the ground with could be clearly seen, the cracks could be clearly seen under the shallow water. Yet that was of no interest of Garland, he saw the light collect again where the light had come down at, heralding the appearance of Cosmos.

Garland relaxed, putting himself at ease, just slightly amused at the brutal power the soft hearted Goddess had, but quickly resumed his offense. His dashed towards the deity, who raised a solid wall of light to block his advance, but Garland was able to simply cut through it with his sword.

With sword in hand, Garland cut into the side of the Goddess, generating pain, and a surprised gasp from Cosmos, who quickly responded by placing her palm just a few centimeters from Garland's face, and unleashing a blast of light.

Garland was forced away from the attack, but as he hurled through the air with surprising speed, he managed to spin and regain his balance. He landed on his feet, skidding another several feet back, he dug the fingers of his free hand into the ground to slow down faster.

He came to a stop, and merely one second passed before he charged again. The Goddess seemed to already no longer be pained by the wound in her side, and put both her arms forward, concentrating the light into her palms. The light grew stronger and brighter as Garland closed the distance, and just as he was about to strike, Cosmos released the light as a giant beam of energy.

Yet it failed to strike Garland, who dodged to the side, but Cosmos had expected this, and moved her arms, pulling the beam along to the side. Garland had to move even more, abandoning an attempt for offense, to dodge the attack, he found himself circling around Cosmos, yet never actually attacking.

Eventually the attack ended, the beam dispersing into small strands of light, and allowed Garland to began an offense.

He attempted a horizontal slash on Cosmos, but she erected a shield of light around her, Garland's attack knocked her away rather then actually injuring her. Cosmos flew back in the air, before instantly stopping and expanding her shield, creating a large area that Garland could not enter without receiving intense pain.

Backing away from the display, Garland kept his attention on the Goddess, knowing full well the field of energy would disappear fairly soon. Which it did, leaving the Goddess undefended, Garland charged forward, sailing into the air to strike at the deity, but she moved back, causing Garland's swing to fall just slightly short, but he simply flowed into a full 360 degree spin slash.

The attack managed to strike Cosmos in her abdomen, forcing her back, but she quickly regained her orientation and landed gracefully in the shallow water. Garland also landed, much more forcefully, and charged again. The distance between them was fairly small, and it was closed quickly, Garland brought his sword up and let it mold into an axe, and attempted a vertical cut.

Cosmos simply flowed back, letting the axe crash into the water, sending jet streams of water into the air. Almost immediately beginning his charge again, Garland's sword returned to its normal sword state, but Cosmos was already on the offense. She waved her hand, and the shallow water's colorization changed, turning to the hue of her own light energy, Garland noticed it, and immediately abandoned his charge, instead attempting to reach Cosmos' throne.

He wasn't quite fast enough, and the light water burst up in the air, bringing searing pain through Garland, and the area above Cosmos' throne was the only place left untouched by the attack.

After several seconds, the blast ended, and Garland, lifted up by the holy flames, fell back to the ground.

To his credit, Garland was already rising again, it was to be expected.

This was not the first time the two had fought each other, many times these two had encountered each other. Now… over the bitter previous cycles, they had completely learned each other's way of fighting, they could catch each other off-guard, to be sure, but they couldn't truly surprise the other with anything. It had quickly become a battle of attrition.

Yet this was something Garland was prepared to do every war, though Cosmos had perished to others in past wars, and Chaos had been defeated by some surprising enemies himself, Garland was the only one who could claim to be able to have the power and resourcefulness to do this consistently.

Garland sunk down into his stance once more, pausing for just a moment, before clenching the fist of his free arm and dashing forward. Cosmos responded by bringing her two hands together, concentrating the light around her palms, then firmly clasped her hands together, a golden aura beginning to shine around her.

He recognized this attack, however, and continued his charge where others might have stopped to see what she was doing. The ground directly behind him erupted with the strength of the light, it would have struck him had he stopped moving, then another eruption, and another…

Ultimately, he avoided five intended attacks simply by not stopping his movement, and tried a diagonal slash on Cosmos, but in a moment, possibly in desperation, Cosmos pointed a finger at Garland, and unleashed a single strand of light. The strand came up and… pierced right through Garland's left leg, putting a premature end to his charge.

Garland went to his knee on his injured leg, he moved his free hand down to rub the wound for a moment, but then immediately returned to his feet. Such pain seemed to not truly impact him, a burned and scarred muscle seemed to not impede him. Gripping his sword, he raised it up and swung down, through the blade fell short of Cosmos, that was not the target of the strike.

As the blade struck the ground, it damaged the ground beneath the shallow water, sending cracks seeking out Cosmos. As they approached, Cosmos quickly backed away, as the cracks reached where she had been just a moment ago, the ground broke open, unleashing a giant spiked stone pillar. It would have undoubtedly impaled her if she had not moved, and Garland was already on the offensive again.

It was not common for Garland to use magic, preferring to rely on simple brute force, but this seemed to be an exception, gathering flames to himself, he unleashed Blaze, triggering bolts of fire to come out and seek Cosmos.

It was a simple enough attack to diffuse, Cosmos simply raised her shielded of light again, a defense almost impossible to get through, and the flames dispersed upon the iron defense of the light.

As the attack ended, Cosmos began to gather more energy into her, much more then she had placed into any previous attack, she teleported to the air above her throne in preparation for this attack.

The light continued to gather in her, one might have considered attacking her at this stage, but Garland would not, it was futile to strike her now. Her aura changed to a violent surge of light energy, then… her attack began.

Cosmos' powers erupted in the form of beams of light descended from the heavens. Power beyond mortal grasp came crashing down in the form of hundreds of beams of light, each crashing into Order's Sanctuary, creating the appearance of a divine rainstorm… and Garland was the infidel to be cleansed.

The attack had but one safe zone, the area directly around Cosmos, extending a few feet away from her throne, Garland raced for it, dodging the weaving his way through the crashing light storm. Yet he had just reached it when the attack ended, and the water of the one safe zone churned in an unnatural fashion, reflexively Garland jumped back, dodging an eruption of light energy in the one place that had seemed safe.

Garland skidded back as the light died away, looking up in the air, he saw Cosmos surrounded by a sphere of light. No, not a shield, it was a physical manifestation of the energy she was collecting, the orb, and Cosmos, came down and crashed into the throne.

The energy of the orb surrounding Cosmos dispersed in the form of eight beams, north, west, east, south, north-west, north-east, south-west, south-east, Garland was caught on the end of one of them and flung out, away from Cosmos.

The beams then began to curve upwards, dragged Garland with them, until they fused together into a single laser, with Garland effectively riding on the top of the blast. The beam continued into the air, and then the end of it, where Garland was, exploded.

As the attack ended, Cosmos sat calmly on her throne before standing back up. The residual light energy was hard to see through, but she heard a distinctive clunking noise that signified that Garland had hit the ground. Yet with such difficulty seeing she was caught off-guard when the already reoriented, albeit heavily wounded, Garland burst into view, his sword aiming right at her.

In desperation, she attempted to raise a shield of light, but Garland simply broke right through it with his charge. Cosmos felt Garland cut right past her, she felt his sword move through her, and she felt the pain too.

Garland stopped a few feet behind her, sword held firmly in hand, his cape still moving with the wind, the tip slightly dipped in the shallow water.

"So ends another cycle." Garland didn't move as he spoke the words, just slightly moving his head with the words, but Cosmos suddenly collapsed onto her knees, then sprawled our on the ground. Garland relaxed, returning to a standing position and turned around.

"Truly exhilarating." Garland paused as Cosmos' body began to dissolve, barely a moment after words, Garland saw bits of darkness piecing off of his own body. "We shall fight again Cosmos, I promise you."

The sky above Garland suddenly distorted, a flash of lightning above him, heralding… something, covered in divine scales. A dragon, one that Garland was all too familiar with, Shinryu.

The dragon descended, its eyes focused on the spot where Cosmos had been slain. It briefly turned its gaze to Garland, but dismissed the knight, Shinryu opened it's mouth, white divine energy seeping out, and unleashing a storm of its energy upon the spot where Cosmos had fallen.

Yet the energy did not end there, a cloud of the divine energy also appeared, circling the area, then spreading out at a speed beyond comprehension.

The cloud reached Garland, tearing him clean off his feet, and causing him to instantly fade from the war. A necessary step for Shinryu to make, otherwise the dragon would risk a surviving Warrior asking too many questions, Garland accepted the end, and the promise of another war.

* * *

The Emperor saw the owner of the soft moan he had heard, but relaxed when he saw the owner of the voice.

"I did not believe my attack had killed you." Mateus examined Ultimecia, heavily wounded, but still alive, crawling on the floor, "I must admit, though I did not believe I had killed you, I am mildly surprised you did not perish in the crossfire of the attacks that were unleashed."

"Em…peror…" Ultimecia tried to stand up, but failed to get any further then her knees. "Ho…how did you…"

"Return?" The Emperor smirked, "My death was planned as well, I had already made certain arrangements, the fools of Pandemonium lacked the proper vision."

Mateus turned his gaze downward at the ground beneath him, the general direction of Hell, "It fell to me to usher in total dominion. I shall, next time." He turned to Ultimecia, "…and next time, you will know who the true master is."

Ultimecia might have tried to say something, but any question or statement she would have tried to make was cut off as she witnessed something on the horizon. A cloud of energy.

"So Garland succeeded in defeating Cosmos." The Emperor turned his sight to the cloud of energy after noticing the change in Ultimecia's facial expression.

"What… is…"

"To those who don't know the truth, it would mean the end of all hope." Mateus spoke calmly, even as death by Shinryu's might was fast approaching. "Next time, the plan goes into full motion."

The wave of energy came upon them both, silencing the life-force of both, if only temporarily.

* * *

Chaos sat on his throne, he would not endure death, but as he calmly observed his domain, he began to… forget things. The war, his vassals, everything seemed to be disappearing from his mind. He brought one of his hands up to stroke his forehead as he felt all his memories disappearing, he brought another arm up as his head started to hurt, he stood up off his throne, arching his back, and suddenly yelled at the exceptional agony that his head was going through.

* * *

**I should note, the last attack Cosmos used, rain multiple beams of light, then incinerate the one "safe zone" from the attack, and then fire the eight beams that arc up and fuse into a single laser and explode, is my concept of Cosmos' answer to Chaos' "turn into a giant and kill you with swords, then incinerate the battlefield" attack.**

**I think her attack sounds a bit more powerful in general, maybe I should have just left it at the beams shooting out, rather then the arcing and exploding.**


	41. Nothing But A Prologue

**Yet another 012 update. Specifically, the third costumes for Gabranth, Terra, and Kefka.**

**Gabranth has Basch's "knight" suit, which Basch (and Gabranth as well) wore during XII's prologue/tutorial.**

**Terra has a new blueish-white outfit that, I swear, reminds me of a swimsuit, somehow.**

**Kefka has a green, white, and gold recolor, with a bandanna covering his hair. I might have said that it was a reference to his sprite in VI, but his sleeves and pants are green, while the original sprite had red on those areas.**

**Anyway, this chapter was a bit tricky to write, mostly because it focuses on someone who, despite having a defined past and goal, isn't really explored in all that much depth.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Shinryu's energy washed across the world, eradicating and destroying everything besides Order's Sanctuary and the Edge of Madness.

Orphan's Cradle stood silent, the few battles that took place there having long since ceased, until the wave of Shinryu's divine energy came. The waves flowed past it, past it and through it, the floating paths shattered like glass before Shinryu's power.

Esthar stood firm. The technological city lived on, until the pulses of Shinryu's power came upon it. The city was obliterated in an inferno of holy white energy, leaving nothing but ash, creating the foundation for a new landscape to be built for the next war.

Narshe had seen its share of torment in the war, with the explosion of the Ultima Tome, but even it was not spared from the rushing wall of power. The power raced through the streets of the city, already reduced to rubble, and the residence was left without as much as pebbles.

* * *

_Another conflict in this long battle has concluded._

Cid of the Lufaine, having sacrificed his flesh to gain Shinryu's cooperation, was now only a spirit. His invisible essence drifting through Order's Sanctuary during the brief few hours between cycles.

_Though… a conflict with some rather… unexpected occurrences._

Cid's mind flashed to the death of Sephiroth and the Emperor's summoning of the Manikins. It was obvious, of course, that Mateus had more of those, much more then the select few he had brought with him. The actions of Gabranth was also concerning, though Shinryu could easily cull the memories from the insightful, a single warrior could cause much devastation. It was fortunate that Cid's… son, had ended Gabranth before he could do anything with that knowledge.

Then there was the Emperor and Ultimecia, they knew of the truth, would likely know it next time, and were trying to turn that fact to their advantage.

Cid contemplated sending the two to the hell that all disgraced warriors would go, but only for a moment. There was exceedingly little chance of the two formulating a plan that could damage the cycle, not even permanent death to one of the deities could stop Shinryu's power. If those two tried something, they would, in the end, only be forced to humble themselves before another warrior. No matter how well crafted the plan, they could not manipulate the Great Will itself. No one could.

It was normal for some of the warriors to learn about the repeating nature of the conflict before it all ended, though even then, Garland remained the only one who knew what the cycle was truly about. Despite the Emperor's massive attempts to determine the truth, his efforts would, and will, fall short. Cid's essence had even watched him conducting research, right behind him.

The world suddenly shook, Shinryu's resurrection had begun. Cid watched the scene, one he had witnessed too many times before, it had long lost its meaning to him.

The spiral of energy came down, striking firmly into the throne of Cosmos, the surge of energy was enough to irritate, though never truly harm, Cid's own essence.

In just a moment, the energy dispersed, and Cosmos was there, returned to life. The expression in her eyes told of misery beyond the ages, having to endure cycle after cycle, yet Cid had no pity for her.

She was merely a tool. A suitable one, but a mere tool all the same. Her dreams of freedom from the cycle did not interest him, but perhaps he would spare her at the end of it all. Still, that was far off, much too far off, though he could think of one thing Cosmos _could_ do.

Cid dissuaded himself from further thought on the matter, any attempt she made would be broken. Shinryu would just restore her once more, freedom was a futile endeavor. He had no reason to worry about possibilities, not with a war destined to repeat itself time and time again until he saw fit to end it.

A sudden tremor shook the world, Cid quickly left Order's Sanctuary, choosing to flow and ebb as the world was rebuilt. The world now laid shattered and broken from Shinryu's might, but thanks to the God's power, new life and landscape was already coming forth. Lands that, for now, were spared from conflict, but that wouldn't last much longer, the new Warriors would see to that.

Similar changes were rebirths of the land were occurring all over the world, in preparation for the next cycle. The Temple of Chaos was the only constant presence besides the domain of the two gods, if only because it was familiar to Garland.

Gliding across the world, Cid passed many locales, the new battlefields for the next conflict. The surface of the moon, the core of a planet, the interior of a clock tower, they each had their own stories to them, not that Cid would ever know them, nor did he care. Furthermore, none of them was his destination.

He finally arrived at the Edge of Madness, Chaos had already been revived, sitting on his throne. To his side was Garland, who always returned with the world, lacking a need to be summoned. The knight merely stood there, ever the willing tool.

Cid silently scoffed, turning away from the knight, bringing his vision toward the distance. Eternally, the skies released torrents of lava upon the molten land, though it did not bother Cid.

The Edge of Madness was one of the two domains alongside Order's Sanctuary that was unique to this world. They reflected the hearts of the gods, Order's Sanctuary, humble in design, with a calming serenity, the Edge of Madness, a scarred and tormented inferno that rejected life. One day, the ultimate weapon would be born here, in this cruel world.

Cid drifted off, even as the world shook again. The summoning was beginning, Chaos once again believed that this was the final battle, not realizing the truth of everything. With a weak laugh, Cid departed once more, the next battle almost about to begin.

In just a few hours, it was ready once more, Cid hovered in the air betwixt Cosmos, Chaos, and their warriors. Now an even ten against ten, the Warriors took their stand apart from each other, a showdown, though none could understand just how far off the end was.

…Then Cid got a closer look at some of the Chaos Warriors, to his surprise, he saw both Sephiroth and Jecht among them, yet he quickly dismissed it. They were meaningless overall, yet still…

The Emperor had wanted them on his side, didn't he? A certain amount of anxiousness suddenly built in Cid's mind, but it was suppressed almost instantly. He had no time to concern himself with the petty machinations of a simple pawn, but he had to admit, though there were always those who were suspicious of, and even found out the true nature of the conflict before, not one of them had ever been able to manipulate the cycle in a relevant manner.

After a pause in thought, Cid suddenly remembered that the Emperor had full knowledge of what was going on from the very beginning of the last conflict. Exdeath had understood what was going on as well…

Drawing breath, something he did not need to do in his current state of existence, Cid resigned himself to see how this conflict turned out. He directed his gaze downward as the fighting began…

* * *

**This isn't the last chapter, FYI. There's one last thing I want to cover.**

**Please review.**


	42. Eiplogue: The Fated Hell

**Here we are, the last chapter of my story.**

**I know, you're crushed.**

**Well, this chapter contains quite a few characters I doubt any of you expected to appear.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Judge Magister Gabranth lay upon the ground. A soft groan from behind his helm as his hand scraped into a fist, as his consciousness returned to him the first thing he noticed was how good he felt. No aches or exhaustion plagued his body… and then he noticed that he was at the Edge of Madness.

Instantly he moved back to his feet and looked around, no sign of Garland. Yet Gabranth remembered being thrown over the edge by the knight, his continued life should not have been possible.

"So, another vassal has come." Gabranth twisted around to see a hooded figure approaching him, "Fear not, I did not come to fight you. It is doubtful you would be worth my time anyway."

The figure turned away, "I am Chronodia, (1) and this, is hell." Chronodia began to walk away, "This is where the warriors who defied the cycle are sent, to fight empty battles." Chronodia seemed to weakly laugh. "Those who succeed are brought back to the god's war. Amusing, isn't it?"

Chronodia turned back to Gabranth, "We fight, to be rewarded with more fighting. Yet Cid contracted me to be the witness to all war and battle, to hold memory of it all."

"You claim a need to fight?" Gabranth tightened his grip on his double-sided blade, "What incentive is there to fight now?"

"Simple, Judge." Chronodia trust an arm to the side, revealing that under the robe was a simple blue orb. "Those who, even now, cannot bring themselves to fight for their intended purpose, shall be absorbed into time, becoming another part of my being."

Gabranth took a step back, his grip on his weapon slightly faltering, but then reaffirming itself.

"Do I sense fear?" Chronodia covered the orb with fabric again, staring at Gabranth, the gaze piercing through, witnessing the despair ensnaring his heart and soul. The essence of his entire being. "Fear of becoming a part of me, or fear of the hopelessness that is to come?"

Chronodia began to float away, he turned his head to leave-

"Wait!" Gabranth called out, stopping Chronodia in his movement, with a smirk, he turned back to the Judge.

"Is this it? All the power I had, reduced… to…"

"Power?" Chronodia scoffed, "You have always lacked true power, it has always been in Cid and Shinryu's hands."

"Shinryu?" Gabranth paused, "What was this war started for? Why did it-"

"The weak can only ask." Chronodia dismissed Gabranth from trying to ask anything further. "If the truth is what you want, come and find me, but first, you must master this hell."

Chronodia lifted into the air, raising his right arm up, "Let's see just how capable you are, another warrior from a distant cycle is coming."

"Chronodia, I shall kill you."

"Indeed?" Chronodia lowered his arm. "There is more then death in this hell, and you shall not find killing me a trivial matter."

The robed figure vanished, leaving Gabranth alone, but not for long. He heard footsteps, not heavy, but he gathered that someone was approaching him from behind.

"Who are you?" A female voice asked, Gabranth did not turn around or respond. "Hey, listen to me when I'm talking to you."

"Name yourself, first." Gabranth turned around, taking note of the woman, holding a segmented staff in her hands.

"I'm Oerba Yun Fang." She stopped and examined Gabranth as he came to a stop, now completely facing her, "You… you were a Chaos Warrior, weren't you?"

"Supposing that I were…" Gabranth separated his weapon into two blades, holding them calmly at his side, "What would it matter to you? We've all received the same fate."

Fang glared at him, "I have less of an issue fighting ex-Chaos trash. This is my only chance to return home."

Gabranth began to walk forward, "So you have something back home that you find worthwhile?" He was almost amused at her fierce expression, "There is nothing waiting for us but more fighting. You should just accept your fate."

"I'll see her again, and you won't stop that."

"Her? You remember someone precious?" Gabranth raised his linked weapon in front of him. "You seek to return to her? You?" He suddenly separated the weapons, falling into his battle stance, "You, who failed Cosmos and rose against her? What can a traitor hope to return to?"

"You're the last person who'll keep me from seeing Vanille again." Fang drew her weapon, a spear, extending its length in preperation for a fight. "Lady luck left you the moment you got in between me and Vanille."

Gabranth only scoffed.

"Your will is shattered. Your desire to return only poisons you!"

The sea of magma around the Edge of Madness suddenly surged, spraying geysers of lava up in the air as the two Warriors prepared to start their fight.

* * *

"So we meet again." Chronodia floated by a familiar figure. "Surely you must realize just how heretical your actions are becoming… Xande."

The dark skinned dark lord turned to acknowledge Chronodia's presence. "Heresy"? He scowled, "You divinity and your foolish accusations, with immortality in your grasp, you can so callously and so casually speak such things."

"I am no divinity. Merely the one who observes all." Chronodia looked away, "…but yes, I am immortal. You have lost this perfect gift."

Xande grumbled under his breath, the joy of immortality existing only in his memory now. The despair of death always in him, driving his every motive and plan.

"I will attain eternal life once more, I don't care how insane or blasphemous my actions seem."

"Yes, you let the fear take control." Chronodia surrendered to a weak chuckle. "Many are those who serve Chaos to attain more and more, you would be content to simply regain what you once had."

"Those fools?" Xande allowed the vaguest shadow of a smirk to crease his face. "They will all die, sooner or later, they could not begin to understand my mechanizations."

"Driven by such anger and despair." Chronodia smirked at the emotion on Xande's eyes, "Perhaps you should share some of that with the latest addition to our… humble community."

* * *

"On your knees!" Fang charged forward, but Gabranth deflected the attack simply by striking the middle of the spear with his left blade, knocking Fang just slightly off balance.

Gabranth charged forward, but Fang regained her equilibrium faster then he expected. She responded to his charge with another swing of her spear, swishing it through the air with enough power that Gabranth needed both of his sword to counter. Their weapons struck together, locking them in a stalemate.

It persisted for only a moment before Fang leapt back, then, hoping to catch Gabranth off-balance, immediately charged again. Her attack failed, her lance missed as Gabranth suddenly moved to the left, the tip of her weapon spearing to the side of Gabranth's head. Gabranth responded with an upward swing of his right blade, forcing Fang to jump back, or else suffer a premature end to the fight.

The sword's tip was just barely an inch away from her skin as she moved back, her feet scraping along the ground. Yet she had no chance to clear her mind from the temporary end of the attacks, Gabranth moved towards her.

Gabranth slashed both blades down, but they failed to strike Fang as she dodged to the right, instead they struck the ground. Rather then continue the offense, Gabranth raised his swords in defense of Fang's counterattack, the spear struck hard against his left sword, disturbing his grip on it, she struck again, the tip just barely scratching his armor, Gabranth jumped back before that could have gone anywhere else.

Pausing once at a distance, Gabranth proceeded to fuse his weapons together. Marching forward, he moved toward Fang.

"Is that the extent of your rage? Am I not between you and your reunion?" Gabranth began to slowly close the distance as he walked. "The gods have cheated you, taken your world, and your precious friend away. Does that not demand vengeance?"

Fang's expression hardened as her grip on her weapon tightened, her lips curling into a snarl.

"Yes, good." Gabranth's movements did not stop. "Find your wrath, take up your blade. Fight, and serve those who are apart from you!"

Gabranth swung down with his fused weapon, Fang raised her spear, but Gabranth's attack knocked it right out of her hands, throwing it upon the ground, sliding away from her.

She wasn't going to stop right there however, she swept one leg across the ground, striking Gabranth's heel and taking him off his feet. As Gabranth got back to his feet, she regained her weapon and turned back to the Judge, who was already charging again with a separated weapon.

Fang blocked his first intended strike with her spear, only for him to unexpectedly throw his left blade into the air. Caught off-guard, she could do nothing as Gabranth reached an arm out, grabed her by her face, and threw her behind him.

She almost fell off the side of the Edge of Madness, but feel just short. Sprawled out, she quickly got back to her feet, only to see Gabranth, his weapon charging energy through it.

Brimming with unnatural energy, Gabranth swung his weapons, summing crescent shaped ethereal blades. She dodged all four blades, but was unprepared for his sudden charge, linking his weapons back together, he forced himself forward, charging forward, then another charge, then another. Fang flew back from the attack, a distinctive bruise on her gut.

Needing some breathing room, Fang took to the air, leaping several feet above Gabranth's head, he ran to where she had been standing a second earlier, but he made no effort to jump after her. Instead…

Instead he merely swung his weapon, summoning a tornado, a Aero spell, forcefully and fiercely throwing her away.

She landed on her back, but still almost immediately got back to her feet. She was starting to feel worn out, though she'd never admit it, she couldn't accept defeat, not now. She glared back at Gabranth, feeling the need for a plan of some sort.

* * *

"Chronodia." Zemus hovered in the air, not turning to the cloaked figure that approached him from behind. "I have a question for you."

The two figures were high in the air, distantly observing the unfolding battle between Gabranth and Fang. Chronodia did not directly respond to Zemus' statement, but merely hung there, waiting for the words.

"Why do you destroy us with this futility?"

"I never destroyed anyone here." Chronodia answered, his voice serious, but even. "They destroy themselves, I merely tear away the illusions and bring them the truth of existence."

"I see." Zemus shook his head, his sunken eyes retained the hateful expression he had years ago, when he was still living on the moon in his world. "Tell me, when I was a Warrior of Chaos, I was told that if I struck down Cosmos humanity would be wiped from the blue planet. Was that…"

"A lie." Chronodia lowered his head, allowing a bit more of his skin to disappear under his hood. "Those of Chaos always need an incentive. The carrot hung before the face, just out of reach."

A long silence hung in the air after the statement. Chronodia could sense a seething anger building in the Lunarian, it outshined all the feelings of contempt and disgust prevalent through this broken and tormented land. After nearly a minute of silence, Chronodia began to fade out, moving to a different local of the tormented destination for the defiant.

* * *

Fang's spear was double-sided, allowing her to spin the weapon as she approached Gabranth. He paused at the sudden change in tactics from Fang, backing away from the display, Fang pressed her possible advantage, coming in close and slashing at the Judge. Her blow struck at his helmet, damaging the left horn, she span her spear, hoping to catch the middle of the helmet with her next attack, only for Gabranth to suddenly raise both blades into the air.

She attempted to attack before Gabranth could try anything, but rather then strike with his swords, his right elbow struck her on the side of her head, diffusing her attack. With distance between them again, Gabranth linked his swords back together as Fang charged again. With one swift movement, he stabbed forward with his weapon, forcing Fang to back away, then unlinked his swords and slashed both of them into empty air, summoning a massive cut in the air, burning with energy, the slice in the air suddenly exploded, (2) leaving Fang no where to run.

Caught in the blast, Fang was thrown back, but managed to flip through the air and land on her feet again. Her body burned and exhausted, she realized, with reluctance, that a direct attack wasn't going to work, so instead, she turned to spells.

A sudden series of Ruin spells were unleashed, forcing Gabranth to move to the left to dodge. The spells came non-stop, leaving little chance of an attempt to counter, and she then supplemented her attack with other spells. The non-stop barrage was catching up to Gabranth, until eventually one spell managed to reach him, igniting an explosion.

Fang paused, attempting to peer into the smoke, unable to determine weather she had won or not, but she couldn't hear anything, no distinctive sound of clinking metal… until Gabranth suddenly burst through the smoke. With both swords in hand, he charged forward, Fang raised her spear and their weapons met in a stalemate.

Yet the stalemate lasted just a few seconds, Fang began to falter against Gabranth, after a moment she disengaged and jumped back, allowing Gabranth's swords to crash into the ground.

* * *

"Why do you abhor the control of those above you so much?" Chronodia addressed to the ex-Warrior of Chaos before him. None other then Vayne Solidor, the Emperor of Arcadia.

"Have you come to drive further scorn to my failures, to mock the blackheart who strove to free himself from the tyranny of the Gods?" Vayne calmly placed his hands behind his back as he turned toward the cloaked figure. "Do not believe that I will not someday free myself of your tyranny."

"You hold nothing but contempt for those above you, yet…" Chronodia smirked under his hood, "If you hate them so, why wield their power?"

"I wield it the way one wields poison. Hoping to understand it, and in turn, kill it." Vayne pulled his right arm out from behind him, holding a curious stone in his hand. "I have attained the power of man, something the Gods cannot fight against."

The stone, Vayne's Nethicite, began to give off a red smoke, feeding power into Vayne, enough power that it warranted a reaction from Chronodia. His own power surged into him, raising his cloak as blue energy shimmered inside the orb within his very core, after just a moment Vayne suddenly stopped taking energy from the Nethicite, prompting Chronodia to also disengage himself.

With a simple smirk, Chronodia turned his back and began to float away, when suddenly Vayne summoned his Sephira, the floating swords appearing without warning, they flew straight toward Chronodia. Chronodia suddenly turned around and extended his arm, an open palm at the end, and the Sephira froze a few feet away from him, ensnared by a ghostly blue energy.

Vayne took a step back as the swords winked out of existence, with his palm still open to Vayne, Chronodia unleashed a blast of blue energy. The blast struck Vayne, sending him back, flying through the air, and then sprawling on the ground.

"You are no Dynast-King, you should realize." Chronodia brought his hand down and then turned away, "How could you be, if you cannot rise out of this hell? Surrender to a life of control, lowly Emperor."

Chronodia again floated off as Vayne rose once more, anger directed at Chronodia, but he was already gone.

* * *

"We cannot escape the past." Gabranth directed his view away from Fang, at the other end of the Edge of Madness, and looked at the sky above him. "This hell is living proof." With a sigh, he tightened his grip on his weapons and turned back to Fang. "What is your past, former Warrior of Cosmos?"

Fang glared at him, "I can remember my past, but…" Her expression faded after a moment, then she suddenly charged without warning. Gabranth stood his ground as she came forward, and caught her spear on his sword, with one sword blocking the attack, he slammed his other sword down on her spear and pulled both his arms back, tearing the weapon out of her hands and tossing it over the edge of the battlefield.

Before she could react to the loss of her weapon, Gabranth struck her in the gut with his right sword. In moments she was thrown through the air, right over the edge, in a near mirror of the death Garland had given _him_.

"Well well, it seems you aren't completely incapable." Chronodia suddenly spoke up from above Gabranth. "Yet, I wonder if you could really become more then just another denizen of this hell…"

"I defeated one enemy, what happens now?" Gabranth raised his gaze upwards at Chronodia, masking his contempt with an even voice.

"Now? Now you fight further." He smirked in his hood, "The punishment for those who defy, is an eternity of endlessness. Unless you receive the mercy of being called back."

Bringing his hand over his chest, Chronodia made a mock bow, then raised himself back up. "Before long, you shall find a new opponent. I do hope you emerge victorious." With a final laugh, Chronodia vanished.

Gabranth hung his head down, the crushing misery weighing on his shoulders, threatening to smother his essence. Raising his head back up, he marched forward, yet something wouldn't stop gnawing on his heart, with the despair consuming him, he forced his movements, he almost wanted to cut himself down.

He wanted to die.

But he couldn't, some part of him seemed to know that it would be futile. This truly was hell, he raised his head up, then back down, the hopelessness was unbearable, but still, he had no choice.

* * *

**(1) Chronodia is the superboss in the PSP verison of FF1. Seeing as Dissidia's plot seems to pull quite a few things from FF1, I felt Chronodia was an appropriate thing to shove in. However, in the game, Chronodia's appearance is basically just a giant blue orb. Feeling that it would be slightly awkward for Gabranth to be speaking with Goliath's beach ball, I instead modeled a human form for Chronodia based on the hooded figure associated with the Labyrinth of Time that Chronodia is found in. The orb is still present on him under his robes, which he shows to Gabranth.**

**(2) The attack Gabranth is using here is his "Guilt" attack. He actually has this in Dissidia, but the description of the attack here effectively copies the attack from XII at the Pharos.**

**...you know, I've always imagined that the "Hell" that Gabranth got thrown to has all sort of FF villains in it. Hence the apperance of Xande, Zemus, and Vayne. Fang's appearance was just sort of randomly thrown in. He doesn't become the watchdog of hell today, and that position would still be beneath what I would envision Chronodia's position to be.**

**I suppose one could argue that the people in that "hell" are tossed down there and then forgotten about until they "prove" worthy of fighting again. Still, I'd imagine Cid would try to maintain control in hell in some way, hence Chronodia's presence.**

**Fang's presence was just tossed in. No big special meaning.**

**We're at the end now. Please review.**

**You know, this was my first attempt at a story that had multiple chapters. Considering that, I think it turned out rather well.**


End file.
